CABINET OFFICE

Public Appointments

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many current public appointments are fixed term and non-renewable.

Jim Murphy: The information is not held centrally. Individual Departments are responsible for setting the terms and conditions for their own appointments. Ministerial appointments to public bodies within the Commissioner for Public Appointments' remit are subject to maximum period of appointment of 10 years to the same board. This is set out in the Commissioner's Code of Practice.

Civil Service

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what steps the Government have taken to increase diversity in the civil service; and what progress has been made.

Jim Murphy: The civil service has made good progress towards increasing diversity, including at senior levels. But there is still more work to do: the Cabinet Office launched a new Diversity 10 Point Plan. Its aim is to build on progress so far to deliver a civil service truly representative of society.

Government Policy

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what role his Department has in improving the strategic coherence of Government policy.

Jim Murphy: The Cabinet Office co-ordinates policy and operations across Government through the secretariats and the Government Communication Unit.
	Under its objectives the Cabinet Office seeks to improve delivery by building capacity in Departments and the public services through the Delivery and Reform Group.

Special Advisers

Philip Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on the number and role of special advisers in central Government Departments.

Jim Murphy: I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement made by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 21 July 2005, Official Report, columns 158–62WS.

Regulations

Mark Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement about the progress his Department is making on reforming regulations.

Jim Murphy: We are on track to deliver the radical programme of regulatory reform set out in the March 2005 Budget.
	The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill was introduced on 11 January. The Bill will make it quicker and easier to reform out-dated, unnecessary or over-complicated legislation and help bring about a risk-based approach to regulation. Both the administrative burdens measurement project and the simplification programmes are on track, as is the rationalisation of a number of regulators in the public and private sectors.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Agricultural Subsidies

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will consult hon. Members on agricultural subsidies before attending World Trade Organisation talks in Hong Kong.

Jim Knight: The European Commission has competency for trade negotiations and negotiates within a mandate given to them by the EU member states. The Commission therefore negotiated on behalf of the EU at the World Trade Organisation talks in Hong Kong.
	My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry reported to hon. Members on the whole of the Doha Development Agenda (of which agricultural subsidies is one part) straight after the WTO ministerial conference.
	The Government's overall, long-term approach to agricultural subsidies was published in December 2005 and copies have been deposited in the Libraries of both Houses. The aim of this vision paper is to stimulate a full debate with stakeholders within the UK and across Europe on the future of the CAP.

Catering/Entertainment Contracts

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total value is of (a) catering and (b) entertainment contracts let by her Department; and what value of such contracts has been let in each nation and region of the United Kingdom, including London.

Jim Knight: From information held centrally, the total value of expenditure by core-Defra on catering contracts in financial year 2004–05 was £281,413; on hospitality was £370,544; and on conference facilities was £1,105,762. The expenditure figures for catering contracts, hospitality and conference facilities for the first six months of financial year 2005–06 are £494,864, £208,394 and £354,162 respectively.
	The Department would incur disproportionate costs in breaking down the figures above to each nation and region of the United Kingdom, and London, requested by the hon. Member. The Department does not hold centrally the requested expenditure information pertaining to its executive agencies, non-departmental public bodies, independent statutory bodies, organisations and bodies financially sponsored by the Department.

Chimpanzee Shooting (Malton)

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the circumstances were surrounding the shooting of a chimpanzee near Malton in December 2005; upon whose authority the animal was shot; by whom; for what reason; and if she will make a statement.

Jim Knight: My Department has no direct role in decisions regarding the shooting of escaped zoo animals. Zoos are regulated by means of a licensing and inspection regime administered by local authorities. Ryedale district council is responsible for licensing Flamingo Land Zoo where this incident took place. They have notified my Department that they are looking into this issue and considering whether to undertake a special inspection of the zoo.

Climate Change

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has received on the outcome of the Montreal climate change talks.

Elliot Morley: There have been no representations to the Secretary of State on the outcomes of the Montreal climate talks. The outcomes of the conference were highly significant; Kyoto parties agreed to launch a process for agreeing new greenhouse gas targets beyond 2012; all parties agreed to review the framework convention with a view to ensuring a truly global effort to tackle climate change; the protocol was strengthened by the adoption of the Marrakech Accords, compliance mechanism and greater support for the Kyoto mechanisms; and progress was made on support for developing countries.

Departmental Expenditure

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much was spent on external consultants and advisers by (a) her Department, (b) each (i) non-departmental public body and (ii) executive agency for which her Department is responsible and (c) each independent statutory body, organisation and body financially sponsored by her Department in each year since May 1997.

Jim Knight: The Department came into being in July 2001 and the information could be provided only at disproportionate cost as Defra does not hold information centrally identifying expenditure on external consultants and advisers by the Department, and each of its non-departmental public bodies, executive agencies, independent statutory bodies, organisations and bodies financially sponsored by the Department in each year since 1997.
	I refer the hon. Member to the answers given on 13 June 2005, Official Report, columns 36–37W, and on 21 July 2005, Official Report, columns 1962–63W to my hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell).

Departmental Expenditure

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the annual expenditure on training and development by (a) her Department and (b) each (i) non-departmental public body, (ii) executive agency and (iii) other public body for which she is responsible in (A) Scotland, (B) Wales, (C) each of the English regions and (D) Northern Ireland was in each of the last three financial years; and what the planned expenditure is for 2005–06.

Jim Knight: The Department's central Learning and Development team arranges and centrally funds non-specialist corporate learning and development opportunities (including Management and Leadership courses, Departmental and personal development programmes and Communication skills,) for staff in the core Department and two of its executive Agencies—Pesticides Safety Directorate and Veterinary Medicines Directorate.
	Each business area within the Department also holds its own devolved learning and development budget which it uses to fund locally arranged, mostly specialist training, for its staff. Similarly, each non-departmental public body and executive Agency for which the Department is responsible, holds an annual learning and development budget which it uses to fund both specialist and non-specialist training for its staff.
	The Department does not currently hold central information on the annual expenditure on locally funded learning and development within the different business areas of the Department. Neither does it hold information on the annual expenditure on learning and development in the non-departmental public bodies or executive Agencies.
	The figures in the following table refer only to the annual expenditure on centrally funded corporate courses, departmental and personal development schemes, for staff in the core Department, PSD and VMD, arranged by the Department's central Learning and Development team.
	
		
			  Annual expenditure (£) 
		
		
			 2002–03 1,458,674 
			 2003–04 2,525,656 
			 2004–05 3,578,222 
			 2005–06 planned 2,813,000

Departmental Jobs (Regional Distribution)

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what proportion of jobs in (a) her Department and (b) each (i) non-departmental public body, (ii) executive agency and (iii) other public body for which her Department is responsible are located in (A) England, excluding Greater London, (B) Greater London and (C) overseas.

Jim Knight: The figures requested for the department and its executive agencies are published in Civil Service Statistics. Table D covers permanent staff numbers on a full-time equivalent basis. Civil Service Statistics are available in the Library and at the following address on the Cabinet Office Statistics website: http://www.civilservice. gov.uk/management_of_the_civil_service/statistics/civil_ service_statistics/index.asp
	Regional information on non departmental public bodies is not collected centrally could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many meetings of the EC-Canada Joint Committee have taken place during the UK presidency of the EU; who presided over each meeting; what other UK representatives were present; what provision was made for representation of the devolved Governments; and if she will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: I have been asked to reply.
	The EC-Uruguay Joint Committee met on 10 November 2005. The UK was represented by officials from the British embassy in Montevideo. The EC-Canada Joint Co-operation Committee met on 25 October 2005. The presidency was represented by officials from London and the British high commission in Ottawa. There was no EC-Japan Joint Committee.
	The Government take into account the views and interests of the devolved administrations when formulating the UK's policy position on all EU and international issues which touch upon devolved matters. Provision for attendance at EU meetings by Ministers and officials of the devolved administrations is set out in paragraphs 4.12–15 of the Concordat on Co-ordination of European Union Policy Issues (part of the Memorandum of Understanding between devolved Ministers and the UK Government) a copy of which is available at: http://www.dca.gov.uk/constitution/devolution/pubs/odpm_dev_600629.pdf. Ministers from the devolved administrations have attended and do attend Councils, by agreement with the lead Whitehall Minister.

Farm Incomes

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many farming households in (a) England, (b) Northamptonshire and (c) Kettering constituency have household incomes below the Department's low income threshold.

Jim Knight: Defra does not have its own low-income threshold. A measure of low-income is specified by the Department for Work and Pensions who define the threshold as 60 per cent, of median household income. The latest data we were able to obtain for this threshold are taken from the 2005 Social Trends publications produced by the Office for National Statistics. This indicated that in 2002–03, the low income threshold was around £10,000 (£194 per week).
	For the year ending February 2005, Farm Business Survey results showed that 16 per cent. of farming households 1 in England had a household income below £10,000 and 12 per cent. in the Government office region of East Midlands. Data for Northamptonshire and Kettering are not available due to insufficient farms in the survey.
	In 2002–03, the proportion of all households in the UK below the threshold was 17 per cent. and this helps to put the figures for farming households into context with the wider population. No equivalent data are available for the East Midlands, Northamptonshire or Kettering.
	1 Sample based on farms greater than 0.5 Standard Labour Requirement

Peatbogs

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she hastaken to protect the additional peatbogs designated as special areas of conservation in 2002, with particularreference to halting the commercial extraction of peat.

Jim Knight: The peatbogs at Thorne Moor, Hatfield Moor and Wedholme Flow, which have been accepted as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), now have the highest levels of protection against disturbance or damage under the Habitats Regulations (1994). Where necessary, these Regulations also allow for a review of extraction licences in SACs.
	Consultations on the remaining two sites, at Bolton Fell Moss and Solway Moss, are continuing because there are still some conflicting scientific views about their eligibility. They cannot be submitted to the European Commission or formally designated as SACs until this is resolved. If the conclusion is that they are eligible, we will take immediate steps to progress their formal designation.

Public Bodies/Agencies

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many staff were employed by non-departmental public bodies and agencies for which she has responsibility in (a) total and (b) each (i) nation and (ii) region of the UK and (c) London in 2004–05.

Jim Knight: Total executive NDPB staff numbers by department as at 31 March 2005 are recorded in Table 2 of Public Bodies 2005, a copy of which is in the Library of the House, and which is available online at: http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/the-future-of-the-civil-service/agencies-and-public-bodies/publications/pdf/public-bodies/publicbodies2005.pdf.
	The NDPB data do not detail the regional breakdowns requested, and this information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	The number of staff in individual executive agencies as at 1 April 2004, including a regional analysis, is available in Civil Service Statistics 2004 which was published in February 2005, a copy of which is in House Libraries. It is also available online at: http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management_of_the_civil_service/statistics/contents_for_ civil_service_statistics_2004_report/number_of_civil_ser vants/index.asp.

Snares

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  if she will take steps to introduce a statutory code of practice on the use of snares;
	(2)  if she will seek to introduce a legal requirement to have a stop on snares;
	(3)  if she will commission further research into the useof animal snares, with particular reference to (a) thewelfare impacts and (b) alternative methods of control.

Jim Knight: On 19 October 2005 Defra published the report of the independent snares working group, the Defra Snares Action Plan and the Defra Code of Good Practice on the use of Snares in Fox and Rabbit Control in England. These documents can be found on the Defra website: http://www.Defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/vertebrates/snares/index.htm.
	The action plan sets out our response to the recommendations of the snares working group and the action we will take over the next three years. This includes reviewing the Code of Practice and considering if it should be legally binding.

TRANSPORT

Road Congestion

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has for reducing congestion on the road network.

Stephen Ladyman: We are tackling congestion with targeted strategies developed with national and local agencies—investing more in the road network, including new capacity where it is justified, trialling innovative new traffic management systems, and exploring the benefits of new ways to manage demand for road space—including road pricing.

Bus Regulation

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to change the regulatory regime applying to buses.

Karen Buck: We have no plans to return to the regulatory regime of the 1980s. Current options available to local authorities include voluntary or statutory quality partnerships. There are a number of examples of good partnership working across the country, and quality contracts are available if other measures do not work. If local authorities are prepared to propose a comprehensive system for managing traffic demand, such as road pricing, we are prepared to consider introducing further measures to control bus services.

Crime (Public Transport)

Sally Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to combat crime on public transport.

Derek Twigg: The Department continues to support the work of the police, local authorities and transport operators to tackle crime on public transport. We are developing, evaluating and disseminating good practice on reducing crime and the fear of crime wherever it occurs in the transport system. We have also introduced the Secure Stations Scheme and launched the Safer Travel on Buses and Coaches Panel. As Sponsor Department for the British Transport police we have encouraged and assisted the force, through implementation of legislation and increased funding, to fulfil its responsibilities for policing the railways.

Urban Traffic

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his estimate is of the typical proportion of urban traffic between 8.00 am and 9.30 am during term time which is related to journeys to and from school.

Karen Buck: Data from the National Travel Survey suggest that in 2004 on weekdays in term time around 15 per cent. of car trips in progress between 8 am and 9.30 am were for the purpose of taking children to school.

Railways

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the number of passengers who will be using the UK's railways by 2014.
	 Question number missing in Hansard, possibly truncated question.

Derek Twigg: The Department's estimates for rail use in future years are for passenger kilometres rather than numbers of passengers. Our latest published projections show rail passenger kilometres increasing by 33 per cent. between 2000 and 2010 and by 1.3 per cent. a year from 2010 to 2025.

Railways

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State forTransport what plans there are for replacing the highspeed train fleet serving the Greater Western franchise.

Derek Twigg: The Department is leading a project to procure a high-quality, modern replacement for the very successful existing high speed train fleet. We anticipate the first replacement trains entering into service during the lifetime of the new Greater Western franchise.

Railways

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what total costs have been incurred by (a) the Government and Government agencies and (b) the Strategic Rail Authority in the franchising and tendering of passenger rail services since 1997.

Derek Twigg: The letting of franchises since 1997 has been undertaken by a number of successive agencies, namely the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising, the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority, the Strategic Rail Authority and since July 2005, the Department for Transport. Franchise tendering costs were part of the general business costs of such agencies and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Information is more readily available from April 2004 and costs incurred are £16.9 million. This represents 0.06 per cent. of the value of the five franchises let.

Railways

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the rate of growth of use in (a) the regional rail network, (b) rail networks serving the passenger transport executive areas, (c) the London and South East heavy rail network and (d) Intercity rail services was over the last (i) 12 months, (ii) three years and (iii) five years.

Derek Twigg: With regard to Intercity rail services, in 2004–05, 85 million journeys were undertaken on long distance train services compared with 70 million journeys in 2000–01. Further information is held by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR). I have asked the ORR to reply to the hon. Member directly.

Railways

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many new passenger vehicles have been introduced on the (a) London and south east heavy rail network, (b) local regional rail network and (c) Northern Trains franchise area in each of the last 10 years; and how many are expected to be introduced in each area in each of the next three years.

Derek Twigg: The information requested is not held centrally for years before 1996. Details for subsequent years are set out in the following table. New trains for the integrated Kent franchise are not due to be introduced until 2009 and are therefore not shown in the table.
	Information relating to Northern Trains (and the former Arriva Trains Northern and First North Western franchises) is included in column entitled regional network, as well as separately in the final column.
	
		
			  L&SE Network(1) Regional Network(2) Northern Trains area(3) 
		
		
			 1996 0 0 0 
			 1997 0 0 0 
			 1998 20 0 0 
			 1999 60 59 0 
			 2000 71 149 28 
			 2001 268 191 90 
			 2002 261 62 8 
			 2003 375 11 8 
			 2004 974 66 0 
			 2005 631 21 0 
			 2006 6 0 0 
			 2007 0 0 0 
			 2008 0 0 0 
		
	
	(1) L&SE comprises the routes served by the following operators South Eastern Trains, South West Trains, Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern, C2C, Silverlink, Chiltern, First Great Western Link and London Eastern Railway (One).
	(2) Regional comprises the routes served by Wales and Borders, Wessex, Central Trains, Gatwick Express, Island Line, Merseyrail, Northern Trains and Scotrail.
	(3) Formerly Arriva Trains Northern and First North Western.

Railways

Gwyneth Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 14 November 2005, Official Report, column 895W, on railways, how much his Department (a) was legally entitled to recover and (b) recovered from the Connex South Eastern franchise in 2003 when it discharged its duty under section 30 of the Railways Act 1993.

Derek Twigg: A performance bond had been put in place to cover losses, liabilities, costs or expenses that the SRA, DfT or successor operator had suffered or was likely to incur as a result of the termination of the franchise agreement. The bond had a value of £19.5 million.
	The NAO report into the South Eastern Passenger Rail Franchise published 2 December 2005 provides details of the amount recovered from Connex South Eastern of £2.6 million. It also states that additional recoverable costs of £3.8 million were incurred by the SRA but that it was decided not to recover these costs from Connex South Eastern.
	In order for Connex to exit from the franchise earlier than the contract required them to, a negotiated solution had to be put in place that was outside the strict terms of the contract. The concession for Connex exiting the franchise (which the SRA considered of overriding importance) was relaxation of the amount that could have been claimed had the franchise run its full term and the claim made in accordance with the strict terms of the performance bond.

Railways

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the borrowings of Network Rail represent a contingent liability of his Department; what the level of this contingent liability is; and whether he acts as guarantor of these borrowings.

Derek Twigg: The credit support arrangements for Network Rail's borrowing provided by the Secretary of State are shown as contingent liabilities in the Department for Transport's resource accounts. Minutes describing the contingent liabilities were laid before Parliament when the various arrangements were first entered into, in June 2002, February 2004 and September 2004. As of 30 September 2005, £16.8 billion of Network Rail's borrowing is supported by these arrangements.

Railways

Gwyneth Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 15 November 2005, Official Report, column 1150W, on train operating companies, what assessment he has made of the value for money of each re-letting of a franchise to a train operating company since 1997.

Derek Twigg: Each franchise re-letting undertaken since 1997 has, prior to award, been subject to a value for money analysis conducted by DfT economists and approval by HM Treasury in respect of affordability constraints.

Railways

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost has been of (a) West Coast Main Line and (b) East Coast Main Line modernisation since 2000; what the cost overruns were against original estimates; and what the expected increase in capacity is for each line.

Derek Twigg: Network Rail are responsible for the maintenance and infrastructure of the rail network and I have asked them to write to the hon. Member directly. For the West Coast Main Line there is a targeted 80 per cent. Increase in passenger service capacity. No equivalent figure is available for the East Coast Main Line.

Railways

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what percentage of trains ran to timetable in the last period for which figures are available; and what the equivalent figure was in 2000.

Derek Twigg: Train punctuality is reported using the Rail Industry's 'Public Performance Measure' which records the percentage of trains arriving within 5 minutes (10 minutes for long distance trains) of their timetabled arrival time.
	In the year to December 2005, 85.6 per cent. of trains achieved this standard. The corresponding figure in December 2000 was 83.1 per cent.

Railways

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the operation of sections (a) 1 and (b) 2 of the Railways Act 2005.

Derek Twigg: Section 1 of the Railways Act 2005 provides for the abolition of the Strategic Rail Authority and for the reallocation of its functions, where they are not discontinued. Subsections (1)-(9) were brought into force in June and July 2005, and most of the SRA's functions and the related property, rights and liabilities have now been transferred. Section 1(10), which enables the Secretary of State to make an order abolishing the SRA, will be brought into force in due course.
	Section 2 transfers safety functions from the Health and Safety Commission and the Health and Safety executive to the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR). We have consulted on draft regulations on where ORR will enforce the provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. We expect to make the regulations and to transfer safety responsibilities to ORR shortly.

Railways

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects each section of the Railways Act 2005 to come into force; and if he will make a statement.

Derek Twigg: Many of the provisions of the Railways Act 2005 have already been brought into force by the Railways Act 2005 (Commencement Nos 1–4) Orders 2005. The remaining provisions will be brought into effect in due course.

Railways

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what arrangements he has made to manage the transition of South East Trains to Govia; and if he will make a statement.

Derek Twigg: Work to ensure a smooth transition of South Eastern trains to the new IKF Franchisee commenced on 1 December. A plan to manage the transition has been agreed and officials from the Department regularly meet representatives of Govia and South Eastern trains to ensure that all regulatory and contractual requirements will be met to enable the new franchise to commence on 1 April 2006.

Speed Cameras

Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the use of speed cameras on roads.

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of speed cameras on roads.

Stephen Ladyman: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made a written statement on 15 December last year, announcing the publication of the independent four year evaluation report on the national safety camera programme, and also announcing changes to the future funding and administration of safety cameras. The independent report confirms that safety cameras continue to be highly effective in reducing speeding, accidents and casualties at camera sites.

Ports

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the development of road and rail infrastructure to ports in England and Wales.

Stephen Ladyman: The current ports policy framework, Modern Ports", acknowledges that the Government have an important role, alongside ports themselves, in ensuring that the best use is made of existing infrastructure, and that opportunities are sought to improve port access. We will be looking closely at this issue in the forthcoming review of ports policy.

Night Flights

Andrew Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his Department's policy is on the number of night flights over London.

Karen Buck: Noise from aircraft operations at night is widely regarded as the least acceptable aspect of aircraft operations. We believe in bearing down on night noise, striking a fair balance between local disturbance, the limits of social acceptability and the economic benefit of night flights. This should be done on a case by case basis.

Night Flights

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  whether he has notified the European Commission of the night flying restrictions that will apply at Heathrow when the present restrictions expire;
	(2)  when he expects to announce the night flying restrictions that will apply at Heathrow when the present restrictions expire.

Karen Buck: holding answer 16 January 2006
	The Government will announce their conclusions on future night flying restrictions to apply at Heathrow airport in due course.
	Directive 2002/30/EC established rules and procedures with regard to the introduction of noise-related operating restrictions at certain EU airports. The Government must follow these rules and procedures in making decisions about night flying restrictions at Heathrow. The Directive does not impose any requirement for prior notification of new operating restrictions to the Commission. We have not submitted any information on future night flying restrictions at Heathrow to the Commission.

Night Flights

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  when he expects to announce the night flying restrictions that will apply at Heathrow on the expiry of the present restrictions;
	(2)  whether he has informed the European Commission of the night flying restrictions that will apply at Heathrow on the expiry of the present restrictions.

Karen Buck: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I have given him today (UIN 42242, 42243).

Night Flights

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer to question 40915, on night flight restrictions, when he will announce his decisions in relation to the stage two consultation paper of the night flight restrictions at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted Airports.

Karen Buck: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I have given today to the hon. Member for Windsor (Adam Afriyie) (UIN 42243).

Regional Air Services

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the protection of regional air services from London Gatwick and Heathrow airports.

Karen Buck: Government have recently published guidance on the protection of regional air access to London's five main airports, including Gatwick and Heathrow. The guidance clarifies how we will interpret the criteria for imposing public service obligations (PSOs) set out in the European Regulations. It seeks to guarantee a minimum of two daily return services on existing routes from London to regional airports, but recognises that in some cases more provision may be required.
	It is for regional bodies to apply for and make the economic case for a PSO. Regional bodies will also be responsible for providing any subsidy required.

Cliff Mitchie

Humfrey Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member dated 7 October 2005 in relation to Cliff Mitchie.

Stephen Ladyman: I have replied to the hon. Member's letter today.

Concessionary Rail Travel

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to extend concessionary travel to the regional rail network.

Karen Buck: None. Free off-peak local bus travel in England for people 60 and over and disabled people will come into effect on 1 April 2006. Local authorities and the Passenger Transport Executives will have the discretion, as they do at present, to offer concessions on local rail services based on their judgment of local needs and their overall financial priorities.

Heathrow Airport

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what the maximum number is of (a) arriving and (b) departing aircraft that Heathrow could handle between 6 am and 7 pm (i) at present and (ii) when Terminal 5 opens;
	(2)  how many aircraft movements took place at Heathrow between 6 am and 7 am in the (a) winter and (b) summer seasons in (i) 1993–94 and (ii) 2004–05.

Karen Buck: holding answer 16 January 2006
	The Government do not routinely monitor aircraft movements between 0600 and 0700 hours at Heathrow airport. The declared scheduling capacity at Heathrow—the maximum number of movements that can be scheduled per hour and still permit the schedule to remain below an average delay of 10 minutes—is currently 61 (35 arrivals, 26 departures). Actual numbers of arrivals and departures will vary depending on operating conditions and the weather. The scheduling capacity for future years is not determined in advance.

Heathrow Airport

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what the maximum capacity is of (a) arriving and (b) departing aircraft at Heathrow between 6.00 am and 7.00 am; and what the capacity is expected to be when Terminal 5 opens;
	(2)  port how many aircraft movements took place at Heathrow between 6.00 am and 7.00 am in the (a) winter and (b) summer in (i) 1993–94 and (ii) 2004–05.

Karen Buck: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I have given him today (UIN 42240,42241).

Heavy Goods Vehicles

Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on his policy on the movement of heavy goods vehicles in rural areas.

Stephen Ladyman: Heavy goods vehicles provide essential services in rural areas but can cause problems on unsuitable roads. Local authorities have powers to regulate what sorts of vehicles use local roads, balancing the needs of local people, HGV operators, those who depend on their services and other road users.

Ministerial Meetings

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he plans to meet members of the public following the award of the Integrated Kent Franchise; and what discussions he has held with GoVia Ltd.

Derek Twigg: My right hon. Friend has no meetings planned with either members of the public or GoVia to discuss the award of the Integrated Kent Franchise nor has any such meetings been requested.

Motorway Repairs (M1)

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport for what reasons the barrier repairs being carried on the central reservation of the M1 motorway near junction 16 on 15 November 2005 were not carried out after midnight to avoid causing congestion.

Stephen Ladyman: At approximately 09.00 hrs on 15 November 2005 a vehicle travelling north on the M1 between Junctions 16 and 17 lost control and collided with the central reserve safety fencing. About 50 metres of safety fencing were left ineffective and needed repair.
	The Northamptonshire police had primacy at this incident. The police directed the Highways Agency's maintenance contractor to close off lane 3 of the northbound M1 carriageway and the police's own contractors then recovered the vehicle. This work was completed at 13.50 hrs. The police took the advice of the Highways Agency's maintenance contractor and decided that barrier repairs should be carried out at this time, rather than be left until later, for the safety of the travelling public. The barrier repairs were completed and the northbound lane 3 reopened by 15.10 hrs. Full running capacity on the motorway was restored in time for the afternoon/evening peak.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Star Chamber Court

Anne Main: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what discussions the House authorities had with (a) Westminster city council and (b) English Heritage on the recently installed covered walkway in Star Chamber Court; and what aspects of the final design are the results of those discussions.

Nick Harvey: English Heritage and Westminster council officers were consulted at all stages of the design process of the new covered walkway in Star Chamber Court, in full accordance with the DOE Circular 18/84 on listed building clearance procedure. The final design was a product of these consultations. English Heritage and Westminster council officials attended detailed briefing meetings on a regular basis at which the developing design was assessed and amendments proposed. The final design is a synthesis of this and it is not possible to attribute specific features to any particular source.

DEFENCE

Arms Regulations

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the status of the UK's International Traffic in Arms Regulations waiver from the United States.

Adam Ingram: Legislative provision for an International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) exemption for the United Kingdom was refused by Congress in 2003 and 2004, who called instead for expedited export licensing.
	We are continuing to work with the US Administration to identify how best to improve arrangements for the transfer of military technology controlled by the ITAR. Such improvements need not be restricted to a single mechanism. The UK has already benefited from faster processing of US export licences for transfers to this country.

Civil Contingencies Reaction Force

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what the (a) established and (b) actual strength is of the Civil Contingencies Reaction Force (CCRF); how many members of the CCRF are deployed with the regular forces; what recruiting schemes are in place for the CCRF; and what plans there are for the future size of the force;
	(2)  under what rules of engagement the Civil Contingencies Reaction Force will operate when it is deployed;
	(3)  which Civil Contingencies Reaction Force (CCRF) units are available to assist in the event of a terrorist attack in London; and at what notice to move CCRF units are required to be;
	(4)  under what criteria the Civil Contingencies Reaction Force will be (a) called out and (b) stood-to;
	(5)  at what point after the London underground attacks of 7 July 2005 the Civil Contingencies Reaction Force (CCRF) was called out; and how many members of the CCRF were deployed in response to the (a) 7 July 2005 and (b) 21 July 2005 incidents.

Adam Ingram: Civil Contingency Reaction Forces (CCRFs) are based on the 14 TA Infantry battalions spread across the country. Each CCRF comprises a pool of around 500 personnel drawn from the Volunteer Reserve Forces, who have volunteered for the CCRF commitment in addition to their normal role. CCRF membership is dynamic and details of individual availability, including where volunteers have been deployed as part of their normal Reserve role, are not held centrally. It is, however, the case that when a CCRF member is mobilised to meet other commitments we aim to replace that individual immediately by another volunteer.
	There are no specific recruitment schemes in place, nor are such schemes necessary given that the pool of potential volunteers consists of existing members of the Volunteer Reserves. The future size of the CCRFs is being considered as part of a wider review of the TA.
	CCRFs would not be deployed in a situation which required the use of force so no question of rules of engagement would arise. Volunteers are not held at permanent readiness, although we aim to be able to deploy a CCRF within 24 hours. There are no specific criteria which would lead to a decision to mobilise a CCRF; they form part of the pool of resources upon which we could draw in the event of a request for military assistance.
	While the supporting infrastructure is based on the army's regional structure, it is not the case that a CCRF would only be mobilised to undertake operations within its home" region. Consequently, all CCRFs are available to undertake operations anywhere in the UK over an extended period, including in London.
	No CCRF members were mobilised in response to the terrorist attacks in London on 7 and 21 July 2005. The civil authorities coped extremely well in the aftermath of the attacks and made no request for military assistance which would have required the sort of large scale general duties support which could be provided by a CCRF.

Credit Card Companies

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the effect on armed forces' personnel of the policies of major credit card companies' failure to recognise the British Forces Post Office as a valid address.

Adam Ingram: There is no failure by major credit card companies to recognise British Forces Post Office (BFPO) addresses as a valid address. Service personnel and their families can use a BFPO address as the registered (home) address for their credit cards where appropriate and many do. Some companies—for their own reasons—will not take orders from, or deliver to, BFPO addresses but the majority are happy to do so. Where this commercial decision is driven by practical factors such as card not present" identity verification or credit checking requirements, the MOD is supporting the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS) in resolving any difficulties.

Credit Card Companies

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will take steps to ensure that all UK credit card companies recognise British Forces Post Office addresses as valid addresses for the purpose of making credit card transactions.

Adam Ingram: UK credit card companies already recognise British Forces Post Office (BFPO) addresses as valid addresses for the purposes of making credit card transactions. Also, most companies providing goods and services via the internet and telephone—where card not present" fraud control measures are necessary—do accept BFPO addresses. Ultimately it is a commercial decision for any company to determine how and where they will provide services. Even so, for the minority that choose not to deal with BFPO addresses, their issues are being explored further by the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS) with the assistance of the MOD.

Departmental IT Equipment

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on IT systems in each year since 1997; what the purpose of each system is; what the outturn against planned expenditure of each system was; and what the outturn time for implementation against planned time was.

Don Touhig: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Defence Export Services Organisation (Iraq)

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the Defence Export Services Organisation last visited Iraq; which agencies and companies they met; and what was the outcome of the visit.

Adam Ingram: Officials from the Defence Export Services Organisation (DESO) visited Iraq from 1–4 August 2005 and met with representatives of the Iraq Ministry of Defence and the Multi-National Security and Transition Command-Iraq. The visit helped DESO identify opportunities for UK industry to assist the development of the Iraq Security Forces, in accordance with Government policy to improve security and stability in the region.

Joint Strike Fighter

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the implications of theproposal by the US Congress to scrap the F35B version of the Joint Strike Fighter for UK defence procurement.

Adam Ingram: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 December 2005, Official Report, column 1103W, to the hon. Member for New Forest East (Dr. Lewis).

Procurement Contracts

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his policy is on the opening up of the European defence procurement market; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: We support the work of the European Commission and the European Defence Agency to improve the transparency and openness of European defence equipment markets. This work will contribute significantly to the development of a more efficient, cost-effective and competitive European defence industry better able to meet the equipment capability requirements of our armed forces. Industry will benefit from greater competitive opportunities and taxpayers will obtain better value for money.

Procurement Contracts

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his policy is on the awarding of UK defence procurement contracts to non-UK companies; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: We continue to define the UK defence industry as embracing all defence suppliers that create value, employment, technology or intellectual assets in the UK. This includes both UK and foreign-owned companies.
	In many areas we can and do rely on overseas sources without compromising national security, and have made progress in recent years in developing increased assurances of security of supply. There are also some critical areas where we have to maintain national industrial capabilities to ensure our national security. The recently published Defence Industrial Strategy identifies those capabilities. Where a contract can be let to overseas suppliers without compromising these and the overseas bid represents the best long-term value for money, taking into account relevant wider factors, we will continue to procure from overseas, so that we can continue to access the equipment best suited to our needs from the widest range of suitable suppliers.

Territorial Army

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of the Territorial Army have been mobilised out of role in the last five years.

Don Touhig: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Trident

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what indications he has received from the United States Department of Defense of the future plans for the development and manufacture of Trident missiles.

John Reid: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 21 November 2005, Official Report, column 1566W, to the hon. Member for New Forest East (Dr. Lewis).

Welfare Services (Army Barracks)

Joan Humble: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what the hours of availability of welfare providers are at Catterick barracks;
	(2)  what steps he has taken to monitor the availability of welfare providers outside working hours on Army barracks.

Don Touhig: 24-hour welfare provision is available to all soldiers at both the unit level and through the Army Welfare Services. All soldiers, recruits and trainees are made aware of the provisions available to them and the responsibility of the Chain of Command, including their freedom to approach any civilian welfare agency direct if they prefer. A credit card size document is issued to every recruit and trainee, listing the contact details and hours of availability, of individuals and organisations that can be contacted.
	No specific steps have been taken to monitor the availability of welfare providers as duty personnel are responsible for providing cover outside normal working hours, in addition to the out of hour support provided by external agencies.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Alcohol Licences

Si�n James: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many applications have been granted for 24 hour sale of alcohol licences in (a) Swansea East and (b) Wales; and if she will make a statement.

Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture,Media and Sport how many applications havebeen granted for licences for 24 hour sale of alcohol in (a) Doncaster, (b) Barnsley and (c) South Yorkshire.

James Purnell: This information is held by local licensing authorities.

Alcohol Licences

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State forCulture, Media and Sport how many applications have been granted for licences for 24 hour sale of alcoholin (a) Bristol and (b) the constituency of Bristol East.

James Purnell: This information is normally available from local licensing authorities but, as announced in our Press Notice of 23 September 2005, Bristol is a scrutiny council with which DCMS is working closely to monitor how the Licensing Act 2003 is being implemented. According to Bristol city council, nine licences for 24-hour sale of alcohol have been granted in Bristol-to three supermarkets, one casino, two restaurants and three nightclubs. The Department does not hold details for Bristol East.

Departmental Expenditure

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many widescreen televisions have been purchased by her Department for use in London Headquarters in each of the last five years; and what the cost was in each year.

David Lammy: The Department purchased a (widescreen) plasma screen unit for 2,750.00 in 200405.
	The Royal Parks Agency purchased a widescreen television in 200506 for the sum of 222.99.

Departmental Expenditure

Alex Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the administrative costs were of each non-departmental public body for which she has responsibility in the last year for which figures are available; what the total of such costs was in that year; and whether the costs are regarded for the purposes of public expenditure statistical analyses as (a) identifiable and (b) non-identifiable.

David Lammy: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The administration budgets regime overseen by Treasury does not cover non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs).
	The split of total departmental spending between identifiable and non-identifiable expenditure is set out in the 'Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis', copies of which can be found in the House Library.

Digital Television (Northern Ireland)

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many and what percentage of households in Northern Ireland receive digital television via (a) satellite, (b) cable and (c) terrestrial provision.

James Purnell: holding answer 16 January 2006
	According to Ofcom, overall household digital TV penetration in Northern Ireland is 45 per cent. We do not have figures breaking this down by platform.

Elite Athletes (Funding)

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether UK Sport's submission to her Department on funding for elite athletes was endorsed by the British Olympic Association.

Richard Caborn: UK Sport's submission to the Department was endorsed by the UK Sport Board. The British Olympic Association (BOA) played an important role in developing and agreeing the 'top line' position and funding presented in the submission. This included taking part in a series of meetings with UK Sport and representatives from 22 of the 26 summer Olympic sports.
	The chair of the BOA wrote on 2 December to the Department expressing its broad support for one of the options contained in UK Sport's submission.

Elite Athletes (Funding)

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether she considered the letter from the chair of the British Olympic Association to her on 2 December 2005 about elite funding to be a funding submission.

Richard Caborn: The chair of the British Olympic Association's letter of 2 December to the Secretary of State expressed broad support for one of the options contained in UK Sport's submission. It is not considered to be a funding submission.

Energy Efficiency

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what targets she has set for improving energy efficiency in her Department; and what steps she is taking to achieve these targets.

James Purnell: The Department, along with other Government Departments, is committed to achieve thetargets under the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate Part E Energy. The targets include energy efficient measures and energy clauses in estate management contracts.
	In order to achieve these targets the Department has developed an energy strategy. This involves identifying potential savings through effective procurement; monitoring and targeting our consumption by analysing data, carrying out energy surveys of usage; capital investment in energy saving measures such as time controls and an awareness campaign amongst staff led by the Department's team of environmental champions.
	The Department is also taking advantage of the planned refurbishment of its Cockspur Street offices to incorporate energy efficient measures such as passive infrared lighting controls.
	The Department is supplied by 100 per cent. renewable energy.

Licensing Act

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she has received from (a) church halls, (b) village halls and (c) users of other community buildings about the Licensing Act 2003.

James Purnell: The Department has received many representations about the 2003 Act from managers and users of church and village halls and other community buildings. In addition, as members of my High Level Group on Licensing, Action for Communities in Rural England raise issues of concern to village and other halls direct with me on a regular basis. These views are being fed into both our review of the statutory guidance and the Independence Review of Licensing Fees.

Licensing Act

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she received from the hospitality sector in Tamworth on theLicensing Act 2003; and if she will make a statement.

James Purnell: The Department has no record of representations from the hospitality industry in Tamworth about the Licensing Act 2003. Last year Ministers in the Department received representations about the Act from two addresses in Tamworth. One of these was from my hon. Friend the Member for Tamworth, enclosing correspondence from a constituent in the attractions sector, to which I replied on 15 July 2005.

London Olympics

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many businesses in Marshgate will need to be relocated for the 2012 Olympics; and how many have reached a settlement with the London Development Agency.

Richard Caborn: holding answer 16 January 2006
	The London Development Agency (LDA) estimates that there are currently 91 businesses operating in or around Marshgate Lane.
	Of these, one (the largest employer located in Marshgate Lane) has signed a legal contract; 11 have confirmed alternative relocation sites and a further 52 have appointed advisors in order to commence negotiations.
	Additionally, two businesses have already moved out of the Marshgate Lane area after reaching agreements with the LDA.

Mobile Phone Masts

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the impact of (a) one and (b) more than one mobile telephone masts on local television reception.

James Purnell: holding answer 16 January 2006
	Any kind of physical feature, be it man-made or natural has the potential to affect TV reception. However, Ofcom believe that in most cases the small towers or masts used by mobile phone companies cause negligible effects upon TV reception.

Rural Tourism

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of rural tourism in Staffordshire; and if she will make a statement.

James Purnell: Rural tourism is a vital element of the English and British tourism offer. At national level, my Department funds the work of VisitBritain and the England Marketing Advisory Board in promoting rural tourism to both the domestic and international markets. VisitBritain spent 1 million in directly promoting rural areas across England in 200405.
	The regional development agencies have been responsible for supporting tourism at regional level since 2003. Advantage West Midlands includes tourism initiatives which take account of the region's rural areas in its Economic Strategy, and will be investing 900,000 in the promotion of local tourism across the county over the period from 2003 to 2006. Local authorities in Staffordshire also invest significantly in supporting rural tourism in the county.

TREASURY

Child Benefit

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the real terms level of child benefit for (a) the first child and (b) other children was in each year since 197677; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: The following table shows the weekly child benefit rates for since its introduction in 197778. The figures show the rate for the first child and subsequent children separately, and alongside these figures are the weekly rates in real terms at 200506 prices.
	In addition to receiving child benefit, families in 200102 and 200203 were eligible for children's tax credit. From 200304 onwards families are able to claim child tax credit. Therefore the minimum that a family in receipt of the maximum child tax credit award would receive per week would be 59.90 for a family with one child, and 103.80 for a family with two children.
	
		
		
			  Child benefit weekly rate Child benefit weekly rate at 200506 prices 
			 Year(4) 1st child 2nd and subsequent children 1st child 2nd and subsequent children 
		
		
			 197778 1.00 1.50 4.24 6.35 
			 197879 2.57 2.57 9.80 9.80 
			 197980 4.00 4.00 13.06 13.06 
			 198081 4.27 4.27 11.80 11.80 
			 198182 4.93 4.93 12.44 12.44 
			 198283 5.47 5.47 12.89 12.89 
			 198384 6.09 6.09 13.73 13.73 
			 198485 6.63 6.63 14.20 14.20 
			 198586 6.90 6.90 14.02 14.02 
			 198687 7.07 7.07 13.92 13.92 
			 198788 7.25 7.25 13.52 13.52 
			 198889 7.25 7.25 12.64 12.64 
			 198990 7.25 7.25 11.81 11.81 
			 199091 7.25 7.25 10.94 10.94 
			 199192 (April to September) 8.25 7.25 11.74 10.32 
			 199192 (October to March) 9.25 7.50 13.17 10.68 
			 199293 9.65 7.80 13.30 10.75 
			 199394 10.00 8.10 13.43 10.87 
			 199495 10.20 8.25 13.50 10.92 
			 199596 10.40 8.45 13.38 10.87 
			 199697 10.80 8.80 13.44 10.95 
			 199798 11.05 9.00 13.41 10.92 
			 199899 11.45 9.30 13.50 10.97 
			 19992000 14.40 9.60 16.62 11.08 
			 200001 15.00 10.00 17.11 11.41 
			 200102 15.50 10.35 17.25 11.52 
			 200203 15.75 10.55 16.94 11.35 
			 200304 16.05 10.75 16.78 11.24 
			 200405 16.50 11.05 16.92 11.33 
			 200506 17.00 11.40 17.00 11.40 
		
	
	(4) Prior to 198788, the child benefit weekly rate was often increased in November and not April, so adjustments have been made to calculate the average weekly rate for the financial year

Child Care

Paul Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of theExchequer what role his Department has in theregulation of child care; and if he will make a statement.

Des Browne: holding answer 17 January 2006
	None. Ofsted regulates child care in England under the policy direction of the Department for Education and Skills.

Child Poverty

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the role of child benefit in reducing child poverty; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the impact of child tax credit on the number of children in relative poverty in each year since 200001; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what assessment he has made of the likely effects on child poverty in the UK of (a) increasing child benefit by 5 for each child and (b) raising the child element of child tax credit by 500 per year; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  what estimate he has made of (a) total cost and (b) the effect on the proportion of children living in relative low income households of (i) increasing the rate of child benefit for all children to the rate for the first child and (ii) paying child benefit at the rate of 17.50 for all children aged up to 12 years and 12.00 for other eligible children;
	(5)  what estimate he has made of the cost of eradicating child poverty in the UK by 200708; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: Between the mid 1970s and mid 1990s, relative child poverty more than doubled. This Government have committed to halve child poverty by 201011 and to eradicate it by 2020.
	Macro-economic stability, active labour market policies such as the new deal, policies to make work pay such as the national minimum wage and the working tax credit, and financial support for families, have all contributed to reducing child poverty since 199899. On an after-housing-cost basis, this approach has lifted 600,000 children out of relative poverty (60 per cent. of less of contemporary median income), and 1.8 million children out of absolute poverty (60 per cent. or less of median income in 199697, uprated by prices), between 199899 and 200304. Since 200001, 300,000 children have been lifted out of relative poverty and 800,000 children have been lifted out of absolute poverty.
	Financial support for families has been based on the principle of progressive universalism, with support for all families and additional support for those who need it most. Child benefit provides universal support, and the Government have increased the rate of child benefit for the first child by more than 25 per cent. in real terms since 1997. The child tax credit (CTC) was introduced in April 2003, and targets additional financial support based on the needs and circumstances of the whole household. As a result of the Government's reforms to the tax and benefit system since 1997, by October 2007, in real terms, families with children will be, on average, 1,550 a year better off, while those in the poorest fifth of the income distribution will be, on average, 3,350 per year better off.
	The Government have set out its spending plans to 200708, including a commitment to increase the child element of CTC in line with earnings. While it is possible to model the immediate effect of further changes, there are uncertainties in projecting the numbers of children in relative low income poverty. A further increase of 5 per week in the rate of child benefit would initially lift around 350,000 children out of poverty, at a cost of around 3.4 billion. A further increase of 500 per week in the child element of CTC would initially lift around 750,000 children out of poverty, at a cost of around 3.5 billion. Increasing the rate of child benefit for all children to the rate for the first child would lift around 250,000 children out of poverty, at a cost of around 1.7 billion.
	The Family Resources Survey does not enable the Government to make an estimate of the cost or effect of reducing the rate of child benefit when a child reaches the age of 12. The Government have not made an estimate of the cost of eradicating child poverty by 200708, which would depend on the definition used, and would be subject to large uncertainties around future income growth, changes in the income distribution, and individual changes in behaviour in response to policy changes.

Dormant Accounts (Northern Ireland)

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much money is estimated to have been in dormant accounts in financial institutions in Northern Ireland in 2005.

Des Browne: As announced in the pre-Budget report 2005, based on the definition that unclaimed assets should generally cover accounts where there has been no customer activity for a period of 15 years, initial record searches by the industry suggest that several hundred million pounds may currently lie unclaimed.
	This figure is for the UK as a whole.

Drugs Seizures (Glasgow Airport)

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions HM Revenue and Customs officers seized drugs at Glasgow Airport in 2005.

Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs made 68 drug seizures at Glasgow Airport in 2005.

Freedom of Information

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions since May 2005 officials from his Department have consulted their Freedom of Information Officer on answers to parliamentary questions from (a) the hon. Member for Yeovil and (b) all hon. Members.

John Healey: Officials preparing draft answers to parliamentary questions consult colleagues, including the Freedom of Information Officer, as necessary. Records of such consultations are not maintained.

Health Expenditure

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 1 March 2005, Official Report, column 1062W, on health expenditure, what percentage of the United Kingdom's gross domestic product he estimates has been spent on health in 200506; what percentage this will be in 200607, broken down by (a) public and (b) private expenditure; and what the most recent estimate is of the (i) EU-15 and (ii) EU-25 average health expenditure as a proportion of gross domestic product.

Des Browne: The information about UK health spending is in the following table. According to the latest figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), average total health expenditure in 2003 was (i) 8.7 per cent. of GDP for the EU-15 and (ii) 8.3 per cent. of GDP for the 19 members of the EU-25 that are also members of the OECD.
	
		UK health expenditure as a percentage of GDP
		
			  200506 200607 
		
		
			 Public expenditure 7.3 7.6 
			 Private expenditure 1.4 1.4 
			 Total UK expenditure 8.7 9.0 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. The public expenditure figures are taken from Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2005.
	2. Private spending is calculated in a similar way as for ONS health accounts. From 200405, it is assumed to carry forward as a constant share of GDP.
	3. The EU averages are simple averages of the figures for each country; they are not weighted by country population. For seven countries where 2003 figures were not available, 2002 figures were used instead.
	4. The 19 members of the OECD within the EU-25 are the EU-15 plus the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the Slovak Republic.

HM Revenue and Customs

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what percentage of telephone calls to HM Revenue and Customs contact centres were (a) answered on the firstcall, (b) answered on the same day and (c) unanswered or had their calls aborted in the last period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how HM Revenue and Customs distinguishes in its telephone target performance between calls answered at the first attempt and calls answered on the same day.

Dawn Primarolo: The information is as follows.
	1. No such distinction is made.
	2. (a) This information is not available
	(b) Callers to HMRC contact centres usually get through on the day they try though callers at the busiest times of the day may have to try more than once. HMRC estimate that in November 2005 the number of callers 1 to former Inland Revenue contact centres who spoke to an adviser on the day they called was around 99 per cent.
	(c) HMRC estimate that in November 2005 the number of callers 2 to former Inland Revenue contact centres whose calls were unanswered on the day they called was around 1 per cent. HMRC does not generally abort calls from callers other thanexceptionallywhere the caller is abusive.
	Caller 2 level information is not available for former HM Customs  Excise contact centres.
	1. Number of calls handled measured as a percentage of total unique telephone numbers calling within the day.
	2. Excludes the St. Austell Orderline and the On line Services helpline where the information is not available.

HM Revenue and Customs

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many HM Revenue and Customs officers are permanently based at Glasgow Airport.

Dawn Primarolo: Five officers are permanently based at Glasgow Airport dealing with regulatory matters. A pool of 68 Anti Smuggling Officers are based at Falcon House, Paisley which is within one mile of the airport. They undertake operational anti smuggling work at Glasgow Airport according to identified risk. They are supplemented as necessary by anti smuggling staff based in Edinburgh and by officers on flexible anti smuggling strike forces.

Lone Parents

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many lone parent families there were in the UK in each year since 197677; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many (a) workless households and (b) households with two or more earners there were in each year since 197879; and if he will make a statement.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 16 January 2006
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions about lone parent families and households with either no-one or two people or more in employment, since 1976. (41292, 41294)
	The Labour Force Survey household datasets have been used to reply to both questions, where information is given hack to 1992, as that was when they were first produced on a comparable basis.
	Table I gives the number of lone parent families for the three months ending in May each year from 1992 to 2005.
	Table 2 gives the numbers of working age households with either no-one in employment, or with two or more people in employment.
	Estimates are taken from the Office for National Statistics' Labour Force Survey (LFS). As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	
		Table 1: Lone parent families with dependent children, United KingdomThree months ending May each year, 1992 to 2005
		
			 Thousand 
			  Lone parent families 
		
		
			 1992 1,368 
			 1993 1,396 
			 1994 1.569 
			 1995 1,685 
			 1996 1,643 
			 1997 1,605 
			 1998 1,724 
			 1999 1,737 
			 2000 1,708 
			 2001 1,741 
			 2002 1,809 
			 2003 1,820 
			 2004 1,873 
			 2005 1,881 
		
	
	Note:
	Refers to people who are not married or cohabiting and have dependent children, who are defined as aged 0 to 15, or aged 16 to 18 and in full-time education.
	Source:
	ONS Labour Force Survey
	
		Table 2: Working age workless households and working age households with more than two people in employment, United KingdomThree months ending May each year, 1992 to 2005
		
			 Thousand 
			  Workless(5)households Households with at least two people in employment 
		
		
			 1992 3,032 8,271 
			 1993 3,271 8,219 
			 1994 3,373 8,236 
			 1995 3,419 8,325 
			 1996 3,437 8,503 
			 1997 3,265 8,673 
			 1998 3,235 8,754 
			 1999 3,157 8,838 
			 2000 3,075 9,032 
			 2001 3,062 9,061 
			 2002 3,126 8,996 
			 2003 3,035 9,083 
			 2004 3,008 9,117 
			 2005 3,068 9,188 
		
	
	(5) A working age workless household is a household that includes at least one person of working age, and in which no one aged 16 or over is in employment.
	Source:
	ONS Labour Force Survey

Lone Parents

Charles Hendry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what schemes to help lone parents into employment are funded by the Treasury.

Dawn Primarolo: A range of Government policies help lone parents move into work including active labour market policies, ensuring work pays through the tax credit system and the national minimum wage, and tackling barriers to work such as availability of child care. The Department for Work and Pensions, through Jobcentre Plus, is responsible for delivery of employment programmes and pilots, and funding is provided by the Treasury through the spending review process. The Treasury also funds the tax credit system which is administered by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.

Nuclear Power Stations (Insurance Liabilities)

Greg Clark: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how public sector insurance liabilities relating to nuclear power stations are recorded in the national accounts; and whether there are special rules for this case that do not apply to other public sector insurance liabilities.

Des Browne: The framework for managing nuclear liabilities arising from damage to nuclear power stations or damage caused by nuclear power stations in the UK is set out at: http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/nuclear/safety/liability.shtml.
	Any contingent liabilities or provisions stemming from the implementation of this insurance framework will be included in the accounts of the relevant Government Department, NDPB or public corporation.
	National accounts will include any payment required to meet a nuclear insurance liability in the year in which the payment falls due.

Public Sector Pension Schemes

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which public sector pension schemes (a) provide and (b) do not provide benefits for unmarried heterosexual partners.

Des Browne: Information is not held centrally on the benefits in all occupational pension schemes in the public sector. The Treasury is responsible for the general policy on the statutory public service pension schemes. All of these schemes provide survivor pensions for partners of scheme members where there is a legal partnership through marriage or civil registration in the case of same gender couples. Our policy is not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in provision for partners who are not married or civilly-registered to the scheme member. Any scheme may modernise its benefits to provide survivor pensions for unmarried and unregistered partners provided this improvement is introduced in a way which does not add to costs falling on the taxpayer. Of the statutory public service schemes (a) the 2002 section of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (premium) and the new armed forces scheme launched in 2005 have introduced provisions for unmarried and unregistered survivor pensions, as have the parliamentary pension scheme and the scheme for UK Members of the European Parliament with effect from 2004; and (b) none of the other public service schemes have yet done so. Many of the other schemes have proposals to do so as part of the restructuring of benefits associated with increases to normal pension ages and other changes which will overall reduce taxpayer costs, including the schemes for local government, the NHS, teachers, police, and firefighters.

Self-assessment Tax Returns

Anne Milton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was spent on advertising (a) on television and (b) in printed media for the HM Revenue and Customs self-assessment awareness campaign in the last 12 months.

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on 18 July 2005, Official Report, column 1334W. 3 million relates to television advertising and 4.5 million to press, radio, printed and ambient media.

Self-assessment Tax Returns

Anne Milton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what criteria he will use to measure the effectiveness of the HM Revenue and Customs recent self assessment awareness campaign.

Dawn Primarolo: The Income Tax Self Assessment media campaign is evaluated through tracking research. An independent consultancy (Billetts) is employed by the Central Office of Information to audit the media buying agencies used by HMRC to ensure that they achieve value for money and provide levels of customer awareness. Analysts employed by HMRC will formally evaluate the direct mailing campaign trialled in 200506.

Self-assessment Tax Returns

David Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the plans to change the procedures for the processing of tax returns such that HM Revenue and Customs will no longer issue receipts for self assessment tax returns handed into tax offices; whether this change was agreed with the Institute of Chartered Accountants; and whether the Chartered Certificate Institute was informed of this change.

Dawn Primarolo: It has not been HMRC policy to provide receipts for self assessment tax returns handed in at tax offices although, in practice, some offices have provided receipts. The change in procedure this year simply standardises the approach across the UK. It was the subject of consultation with the main accountancy representative bodies-CIOT, ICAW, ICAS, ACCA AAT and ATT-and an announcement was published on the HMRC website on 9 December 2005 and in Tax Bulletin 80 on 19 December 2005.

Tax Credits

Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) terminations of tax credit notices and(b) new re-instatements of terminated tax credit notices have been issued in each month since 1 January 2004.

Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not available.

Tax Credits

Greg Clark: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what target the Government have for minimising the overpayment of tax credits in 200405; and what targets have been set for (a) 200506 and (b) 200607.

Dawn Primarolo: holding answer 20 December 2005
	HM Revenue and Customs does not have targets for minimising the overpayment of tax credits.
	I refer the hon. Gentleman to the written statement I gave to the House on 5 December 2005, Official Report, column 53WS for the factors from which overpayments result, for an update on improvements already made to the tax credit system, and the announcement of a package of further improvements. The measures announced strike a balance between providing more certainty and stability of financial support for families, while maintaining flexibility to respond to changes in their income and circumstances.
	HMRC is committed to responding quickly and effectively to changes of circumstances and changes in income reported by claimants that impact on tax credits awards so that the likelihood and size of any overpayment is kept to a minimum. It is also committed to supporting claimants to report changes promptly and more regularly.

Tax Credits

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what proportion of telephone calls for tax credits in Wales (a) received the engaged tone, (b) were disconnected during the IVR process and(c) were abandoned by the caller in each year since the tax credit system began; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: The technology behind the tax credits helpline telephone network distributes calls across the UK on the basis of the next available adviser, regardless of the area of origin of the call. Therefore we do not have the available information to answer this question.

Tax Credits

Paul Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has been lost in tax credit payments by those people who failed to renew their tax credit applications by the annual deadline in 2005.

Dawn Primarolo: Claimants awards are terminated if they fail to renew by the annual deadline. If a claimant appeals and HMRC accepts the reason for late renewal, their award is reinstated, with full back payments, and they incur no loss of tax credit payments. Claimants whose payments are terminated may wish to reapply for tax credits, in which case theirs will be treated as a new claim and normal arrangements apply including backdating of credits for up to three months.
	The failure to return the annual declaration means that the information needed to establish entitlement, and hence any lost payment, for any period is not available.

Tax Investigations

Peter Bone: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the cost of tax investigations by the Inland Revenue was in each year since 1997; and how many staff were employed to carry them out in each year.

Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is available only at a disproportionate cost.

Untaxed Spirits

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on how many occasions HM Revenue and Customs staff detected the illegal sale of untaxed spirits in Scotland in 2005.

Dawn Primarolo: There were 14 inland detections of non-UK duty paid spirits in Scotland in 2005. These would have been at or close to the point of sale.

Valuation Office Agency

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the national targets are for the Valuation Office Agency; and what the performance of relevant offices in the South West Region has been against those targets.

Dawn Primarolo: Within the South West Region are the Valuation Office Agency's South Western and Western Groups, covering local taxation work, and the South West District Valuer Services Unit covering other work. The national targets for 200405 and audited results (which are also available on the Agency's website at www.voa.gov.uk) are shown as follows, with a division between those offices within South West Region where applicable. National targets are also shown for the current year200506for which results will be published in the Agency's Annual Report in due course.
	
		Valuation office agency national targets and results2004/05
		
			 Agency wide key targets Agency target Agency result 
		
		
			 National resultapportionment to South West not applicable   
			 Value for money   
			 Improve productivity by 2.5% in 200405 2.5% 2.4% 
			 And achieve improvements of at least 15%, on 200405 figures, by 200708 15% by 200708 'On course' 
			 People satisfaction   
			 Improve staff satisfaction in working for the VOA in comparison with other places of work, based on annual survey results, by 1% 53% 58% 
			 Financial break even   
			 Recover full resource costs within Parliamentary Approved Estimates, including a return on capital of 3. 5 million from fees and charges  Achieved 
			
			 Local taxation key targets   
			 Valuation accuracy   
			 Contain reductions in the 2000 local rating lists to less than 7.5% in respect of compiled list appeals settled in 200405 7.5% 9.7% 
			 And to a maximum of 4.7% of the total compiled list rateable value over the entire life 2000 rating lists 4.7% 4.6% 
			 Council tax revaluation   
			 Prepare for the forthcoming revaluation of domestic properties in England by digitising data for 97.5% of properties by 31 March 2005 97.5% Achieved 
			 And, by 31 July 2004, evaluate whether the automated valuation model (AVM) can be utilised effectively for the banding of a minimum of 60% of dwellings 60% Achieved 
			
			 District valuer services key target   
			 Achieve an increased fee income of 19.2 million 19.2 million 19.4 million 
			 And ensure that its share of VOA costs is covered  Achieved 
		
	
	
		
			 Local taxation key targets Target South West Group Result Western Group Result 
		
		
			 Rating revaluation
			 Prepare for the forthcoming revaluation of non-domestic properties in England and Wales by producing draft rating lists by 30 September 2004 Achieved Achieved  
			 And compiled rating lists by 31 March 2005  Achieved Achieved 
			 Customer satisfaction
			 Maintain customer satisfaction, based on annual surveys, at 86% 86% 72.16% 76.19% 
			 
			 Local taxationother targets
			 Rating
			 Draft programmes for clearance of appeals available by 31 July 2004 31 July 2004 Achieved Achieved 
			 Publish final programmes by 1 October 2004 1 October 2004 Achieved Achieved 
			 And adhere to start date in 95% of cases 95% 98.85% 96.65% 
			 Appeals settledEngland 280,000 13,555 11,296 
			 95% of reports cleared within three months of receipt 95% 92.91% 95.3% 
			 And clear all those received within 200405 by the end of the year 100% 100% 100% 
			 Council tax
			 Clear council tax appeals within a maximum of 27,800 in England 27,800 3,015 1,554 
			 Provide a considered view to taxpayers on whether an adjustment to their banding is justified within two months of receipt of their appeal 100% 46.67% 64.1% 
			 Ensure that all appeals are ready for hearing within six months 100% 96.67% 96.61% 
			 Clear 95% of all reports within three months of receipt 95% 96.3% 97.36% 
			 And 95% of all reports, in respect of new properties, within two months of receipt 95% 91.55% 95.92% 
			 Ensure that 95% of new bandings are right first time 95% 94.17% 94.58% 
			 Customer service
			 Answer all telephone calls within an overall average of 10 seconds 100% 100% 100% 
			 Acknowledge all correspondence within five working days 100% 98% 99% 
			 Reply to 90% of correspondence, based on information held, within 15 working days 90% 82.74% 94.8% 
			 See all callers to our offices within five minutes 100% 100% 100% 
			 Achieve specified standards for valuation accuracy 90% 93.33% 93.3% 
			 Meet timeliness targets 90% 92.9% 92.5% 
		
	
	
		
			 District valuer servicesother targets Target District valuer SW result 
		
		
			 Inheritance tax   
			 Clear all initial appraisal cases within 20 working days 100% 93% 
			 Report agreed values for 75% of cases within three months 75% 83% 
			 Report agreed values for 90% of cases within six months 90% 95% 
			 Report agreed values for 95% of cases within nine months 95% 98% 
			 Capital gains tax   
			 Clear 90% of initial appraisal/information valuation cases within 30 working days 90% 79% 
			 And the remainder within three months 100% 95% 
			 Clear 90% of negotiation cases within six months 90% 66% 
			 And the remainder within 12 months 100% 90%

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Clinical Negligence

John Baron: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many legally aided clinical negligence cases were closed in the last 12 months; and how many (a) proceeded beyond investigation and (b) resulted in (i) an award of damages and (ii) a settlement involving an agreement to pay damages.

Bridget Prentice: In the last year 6,217 cases were closed where an outcome was reported of which 2,574 went beyond the investigation stage. In these cases the solicitors reported a substantive benefit to the client in 56 per cent. of cases.

Departmental Expenditure

Pete Wishart: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what has been the annual expenditure on training and development for (a) her Department and (b) each (i) non-departmental public body, (ii) executive agency and (iii) other public body for which she is responsible in (A) Scotland, (B) Wales, (C) each of the English regions and (D) Northern Ireland in each of the last three financial years; and what the planned expenditure is for 200506.

Bridget Prentice: Since April 2002 the Department for Constitutional Affairs (formerly the Lord Chancellor's Department) has provided a corporate HR service, including learning and development for the Department and it's executive agenciesCourt Service (until 1 April 2005), Her Majesty's Courts Service (from 1 April 2005) and Public Guardianship Office. The Legal Service Commission has its own HR department including learning and development.
	Annual expenditure for central learning and development provision for the last three years in (a) The Department and (b) (ii) executive agencies is as follows.
	
		
			  Annual expenditure () 
		
		
			 200203 891,558 
			 200304 1,636,831 
			 200405 1,609,268 
		
	
	It is not possible to provide a breakdown across Department and agencies nor across countries/regions as expenditure is not recorded in this way and the information could be provided only at disproportionate expense.
	These figures do not include local expenditure on learning and development activity. This information could be provided only at disproportionate expense.
	In 200506 planned expenditure is as follows:
	
		
			  Planned expenditure () 
		
		
			 Central learning and development including SCS 3,577,000 
			 HMCS Regions  
			 London 255,000 
			 Midlands 195,000 
			 North West 195,000 
			 North East 270,000 
			 South West 195,000 
			 South East 240,000 
			 Wales and Cheshire 150,000 
			 Regional Total 1,500,000 
		
	
	The budget for learning and development has increased significantly in 200506 as the creation of HMCS increased the size of the organisation by approximately 10,000 staff, including approx 2,500 lawyers who need to meet their continuing professional development requirements.
	Annual expenditure for central learning and development provision for the last three years in (b) (i) Legal Services Commission is as follows:
	
		
			  200203 200304 200405 200506 
		
		
			 Central training 912,418 1,203,801 454,207 987,614 
			  
			 Regional Offices 
			 London 5,249 33,831 123,161 52,652 
			 Bristol 10,130 25,444 31,275 29,867 
			 Cardiff 7,123 6,176 24,734 27,804 
			 Birmingham 4,343 10,950 24,076 25,800 
			 Manchester 17,124 46,157 20,675 11,067 
			 Newcastle 6,685 8,872 31,624 453 
			 Leeds 3,743 8,705 17,073 2,273 
			 Nottingham 2,964 4,806 6,924 13,250 
			 Cambridge 9,553 24,447 21,141 14,232 
			 Chester/Liverpool 6,756 15,141 22,918 22,530 
			 South East 8,707 6,991 25,941 45,294 
			 Regional total 102,377 191,520 349,542 245,222 
		
	
	It is not possible to provide a breakdown for the central training budget across regions as expenditure is not recorded in this way and the information could be provided only at disproportionate expense

Office for Disability Issues

Danny Alexander: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether a Minister in her Department is planned to be nominated to take responsibility for liaison with the Office for Disability Issues; and if she will make a statement.

Harriet Harman: My hon. Friend the Member for Stirling (Mrs. McGuire), the Minister for disabled people, has overall responsibility for the Office for Disability Issues (ODI). The Minister for disabled people chairs a cross-government steering group which includes ministerial representatives from the Department of Health, Department for Education and Skills, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Department for Transport, and Department for Trade and Industry. The Minister in this Department nominated to take responsibility for liaison with the ODI will be Baroness Catherine Ashton of Upholland.

Legal Services Commission

Andrew Pelling: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will list the Legal Services Commissions' contracted suppliers in the London borough of Croydon for (a) criminal matters, (b) employment, (c) family matters, (d) housing, (e) immigration, (f) mental health and (g) social payments.

Bridget Prentice: The Legal Services Commission contracts with suppliers throughout England and Wales to provide a range of legal and advice services across different categories of law.
	The contracted suppliers in the listed categories in the London borough of Croydon are as follows:
	(a) Criminal matters
	Amphlett Lissimore
	Barnes Harrild  Dyer
	Benedict Charles  Co.
	Dexter Henry  Co.
	DKLL
	Hiace Solicitors
	J A Mundy  Co.
	Mansouri  Son Solicitors
	Mccauley-Slowe Solicitors
	McMillan Williams
	Omezie  Co.
	Ormerods
	Robert Blackford  Co.
	Roger Long  Co.
	(b) Employment
	Croydon  Sutton Law Centre
	(c) Family matters
	Amphlett Lissimore
	Atkins Hope
	Barnes Harrild  Dyer
	Barrington C Edwards  Co.
	Daniel Curry  Co.
	DKLL
	Grants Solicitors
	Haider Kennedy Solicitors
	McMillan Williams
	Ormerods
	Robert Blackford  Co.
	Roger Long  Co.
	Streeter Marshall
	White  Sherwin
	(d) Housing
	Amphlett Lissimore
	Daniel Curry  Co.
	McMillan Williams
	Ormerods
	Streeter Marshall
	Croydon  Sutton Law Centre
	(e) Immigration
	Barnes Harrild  Dyer
	Hiace Solicitors
	Simman Solicitors
	Croydon  Sutton Law Centre
	(f) Mental health
	None
	(g) Welfare Benefits 1 
	Grants Solicitors
	Croydon  Sutton Law Centre
	Thornton Heath Citizens Advice Bureau
	1 The LSC does not have a 'social payments' category so has provided figures for welfare benefits'

Small Claims (Personal Injuries)

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs which organisations she plans to consult as part of the review of personal injuries limits for small claims.

Harriet Harman: The consultation paper on case track limits will be sent to a wide range of stakeholders, including the legal profession, insurers, consumer organisations, trade unions, business and the judiciary.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

African Partnership Forum

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what role his Department has given to African civil society groups in the African Partnership Forum.

Gareth Thomas: African civil society groups have an important part to play in supporting the Africa Partnership Forum's (APF) role as a high-level inter-governmental forum addressing strategic policy issues affecting Africa's development.
	A key part of the APF's work is monitoring delivery of international and African commitments to support the continent, on the basis of a new Joint Action Plan. Civil society groups should hold governments to account for delivery of these commitments, and also for their results. DFID is supporting the Archbishop of Capetown's proposal for an 'African Monitor', which will bring together civil society groups across Africa for this purpose, complementing the APF's role.
	The APF Support Unit being established in Paris will provide a central contact point for civil society groups, including in relation to the Plan. Civil society groups are not members of the APF, which is an inter-governmental forum. However, my co-chairs and I participated in a consultation with a broad range of civil society groups prior to the most recent meeting. It will be for Co-Chairs of future meetings to decide what form civil society input should take.

Anti-retroviral Medicines

Sally Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions his officials have had with UNICEF about the development of new anti-retroviral medicines for children suffering from HIV/AIDS in developing countries.

Gareth Thomas: DFID is in regular contact with UNICEF concerning children suffering from HIV/AIDS in developing countries.
	In July 2004, DFID was one of the first bilateral development agencies, along with Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to endorse the UNAIDS/UNICEF Framework for the protection, care and support of orphans and vulnerable children living in a world with HIV/AIDS.
	DFID is funding UNICEF programmes in Africa, totalling 44 million, as part of our commitment to spend 150 million on children affected by AIDS and supports the UNICEF Global Campaign which has an objective of increasing access to treatment for children.
	We are also co-hosting the Global Partners Forum on children affected by AIDS which will consider how to address the blockages on treatment for children. This meeting will feed into the Global Steering Committee towards scaling up universal access to treatment by 2010, an assessment which will be reported to the UN General Assembly Special Session on AIDS (UNGASS) in June.

Commission for Africa

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department has taken to raise awareness of the Commission for Africa Report in Africa.

Gareth Thomas: The Commission for Africa report, 'Our Common Interest', was launched on 11 March in parallel events at the British Museum in London and at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa. The report was presented to the United Nations the same day in New York.
	Following the launch, the Commission undertook a four month series of presentations leading up to the G8 Summit at Gleneagles. This included regional events in Africa as well as G8 countries. More than 45 presentations were made in over 20 countries. Audiences included the African Union New Partnership for Africa's development (AU-NEPAD), governments, private sector and civil society.
	The full story of the Commission's work is told on the Commission website www.commissionforafrica.org which will remain as a permanent online archive. As well as the full report being published in English and French, Part One is available on the website in Arabic, Swahili and Portuguese, as well as Mandarin and Japanese.
	The costs of the Commission for Africa, including these activities to raise awareness in Africa and other parts of the world, were met by the Department for International Development.

Commission for Africa

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what procedures were used by his Department for the recruitment of staff for the secretariat for the Commission for Africa.

Gareth Thomas: Initial recruitment took place by trawling across Whitehall in February 2004. 14 staff, including the Head of the Secretariat, were in post by the end of March 2004 and came from six different Whitehall departments. Another six Whitehall staff joined the team by the end of May. The Commission's website editor was recruited in June 2004 through a recruitment agency.
	Capacity was strengthened in August with external recruitment of nine policy analysts by open competition through the civil service gateway and public advertisement.
	Subsequently and during the lifetime of the Secretariat, additional staff were brought in as demand required through public advertisement and secondments from the private sector, the British Council and Whitehall.

Democracy Projects

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will list the criteria used by his Department to assess the effectiveness of projects to promote democracy.

Gareth Thomas: DFID's aim is poverty reduction, as measured by the achievement of the millennium development goals (MDGs), and the eventual elimination of poverty.
	Within this framework, the criteria used by DFID to assess the effectiveness of projects in support of better governance are defined by the scope of each individual project. Examples of criteria of effectiveness for governance projects might include the number of eligible citizens able to register and vote at elections, the election of representatives of disadvantaged or marginalised communities to decision-making arenas such as local government councils, or the establishment of channels for monitoring citizen satisfaction with key service sectors.
	More generally, DFID uses the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) criteria to evaluate its own programmes. The criteria are: relevance; efficiency; effectiveness; impact; and sustainability:
	Relevance: the extent to which the development assistance is consistent with the policies and priorities of the major stakeholders.
	Efficiency: the relationship between the outputs achieved and the inputs used. Efficient development assistance uses the least costly approach to achieve its objectives.
	Effectiveness: the extent to which development intervention achieves its objectives at the purpose and goal level.
	Impact: all outcomes (positive or negative) attributable to the development intervention.
	Sustainability: the extent to which the activities, outputs and impacts will continue after external support has ended.

Developing Countries (Agricultural Trade)

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps have been taken by his Department to assist developing countries in reforming their agricultural trade policies.

Gareth Thomas: DFID, along with all Government Departments, is committed to see reform of developed country agriculture policies, including trade policies, which distort international markets, and which if reformed, could deliver real development gains to the world's poorest countries. In the assistance we provide to developing countries, we do not start from the premise that their agriculture trade policies specifically must be reformed. The assistance that DFID provides to developing countries under our trade related capacity building programme is designed to support their own priorities and development needs, as identified by the countries themselves, and falls into three broad categories; helping developing countries to determine their own trade policies; helping them to negotiate their priorities in both bilateral and multilateral fora; and helping them to capture the potential benefits from trade. Since 1998, we have committed 181 million to trade related capacity building, and are set to increase this Aid for Trade to 100 million per annum by 2010.
	For the least developed countries (LDCs), we contribute to the reform of their trade policies, including agricultural trade policies, through our support to the integrated framework (IF). The IF is an international initiative which assists LDCs to take the steps necessary to improve their trading performance in a manner which supports economic growth and poverty reduction. A Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) is carried out for each LDC participating in the IF which identifies constraints to the trading performance of LDCs, policies, infrastructure, institutional and private sector capacity. It also provides technical advice on how to address these constraints. Agriculture trade policies will be considered in participating LDCs with agricultural export sectors.
	The IF is active in over 30 countries, 21 of them in Sub Saharan Africa including Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Mali, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia. DFID has contributed a total of 4.5 million to the IF since 2001.
	DFID has also contributed 850,000 to the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF), a multi-donor funded programme that assists developing countries in improving their expertise and capacity to analyse and implement international sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards.
	DFID has recently published an agriculture policy paper. This identifies the need to improve the benefits of agricultural trade to poor people and poor countries and reaffirms DFID's strong commitment to agriculture, which we recognise as fundamental to poverty reduction and to the livelihoods of poor people.

Falluja

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  what the (a) birth rate, (b) death rate and (c) infant mortality rate in Falluja was in each year since 1990;
	(2)  what the population of Falluja was in each year since 1990;
	(3)  what recent assessment his officials have made of the humanitarian situation in Falluja;
	(4)  how many people (a) in total and (b) as a percentage of the total population in Falluja had access to (i) clean water and (ii) electricity in each year since 1990 for which records are available.

Gareth Thomas: DFID has not made any recent assessment of the humanitarian situation in Falluja.
	Humanitarian assistance and reconstruction in Falluja is the responsibility of the Iraqi Government, with support from the United States. Significant progress has been made since military operations concluded, and further projects are under way to improve basic services. To date, Falluja has received US$100 million for reconstruction, and US$103 million in housing compensation. The Iraqi Prime Minister recently approved a further US$75 million housing compensation, so that Falluja will have received a total of $281 million. Power and water is currently estimated to be available to over 80 per cent. of the population as a rule; however, a recent fire at an electricity substation has restricted these services. Prior to April 2004, the population of Falluja was estimated at 300,000; today the population is around 239,000.
	Statistics on birth rate, death rate and infant mortality in Fallujah since 1990 are unavailable. For Iraq as a whole, this data can be estimated from surveys, However, when information is required at a more local level, the only source of information in most developing countries, including Iraq, is a population census. The most recent census, conducted in 1997, only contains details at the Governorate or regional level. Town-level estimates of birth and death rates are unlikely to have been calculated at any stage.

South East Asia Tsunami

Quentin Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what conclusions were reached by the meeting in Brussels on 20 December 2005 to draw lessons from the emergency aid and relief effort for the victims of the South East Asia tsunami of 26 December 2004; and if he will make a statement.

Gareth Thomas: I have arranged for the document entitled 'UK Presidency Conclusions from the Tsunami Follow-up Event; 20th December 2005: Brussels' to be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Sudan

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to help reduce infant mortality in the Sudan; and what help is available to Sudan from Government reconstruction funds.

Gareth Thomas: As in any conflict or humanitarian emergency, child health has suffered hugely in Sudan. In 2004, UNICEF's figures showed that out of 1,000 live births in Sudan, an estimated 91 would die before the age of five. By way of comparison, the UK's under five mortality rate is six out of 1,000.
	This financial year, DFID has allocated 112.75 million for our work in Sudan. We aim to contribute towards the most critical needs in Sudan, especially in Darfur, Southern Sudan and the East. Of this, we channelled 45 million through the UN Work plan and 25 million via NGOs for a wide range of assistance including water and sanitation, emergency health care, shelter, food and nutrition; all of which help to reduce mortality.
	For example, DFID currently funds a project which provides bed nets to women and children in Southern Sudan where malaria, a large contributor to infant mortality, is endemic. This follows similar programmes in Kenya and Gambia where it has been found that impregnated bed nets can reduce overall mortality rates by up to 30 per cent. in malaria endemic areas.
	Although only a snapshot of the situation over the last six months, the recent World Health Organisation (WHO) mortality survey in Darfur revealed that death rates have dropped by two thirds in some areas. This points to the effectiveness of the responses in stabilising and improving the humanitarian situation in Darfur. With raising levels of insecurity, however, this remains extremely fragile.

Tax Evasion/Avoidance

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment has been made by his Department of the impact of tax evasion and tax avoidance on government finances in developing countries; and if he will make a statement.

Gareth Thomas: DFID is working with developing country governments and their revenue authorities to improve collection of taxes and customs duties. Increasing tax revenue will increase funding available for essential services such as primary education and primary healthcare.
	DFID has not made an assessment of the impact of tax evasion and tax avoidance on developing countries' finances. The high number of businesses not formally registered in many countries is a significant constraint on collecting taxes. DFID is undertaking a study looking at the impact of tax on business which will, among other matters, examine the impact on incentives for businesses to remain in the informal sector.
	80 per cent. of taxes in developing countries are collected from formal companies, through VAT, corporate taxes, and taxes on labour. In contrast, the collection of personal tax is very small, so the potential for tax avoidance and evasion is less significant in terms of proportion of tax revenue from individuals.
	Through work on the investment and regulatory climate facing the private sector, and on building capacity through training in inland revenue and customs offices, DFID is contributing to reducing the avoidance and evasion of taxes in developing countries.

West Bank Barrier

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effect of the barrier dividing the West Bank from Israel on the Palestinian economy.

Gareth Thomas: A preliminary analysis of the barrier's route, published by the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in March 2005, identified that some 142,640 acres (10 per cent.) of West Bank land will lie between the completed barrier and the Green Line. This is some of the most fertile land in the West Bank and is currently home to 49,400 Palestinians. Where the Barrier has been constructed, Palestinians face economic hardship from being restricted from or not being able to reach their land to harvest crops, graze animals or earn a living. Residents have also been cut off from schools, universities and specialized medical care by the constructed Barrier.

World Water Forum

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 20 December 2005, Official Report, column 2679W, on the World Water Forum, by what process national governments will (a) contribute to and (b) sign up to the Ministerial Declaration for the World Water Forum; and if he will make a statement.

Gareth Thomas: The Fourth World Water Forum Secretariat have invited all National Governments to contribute to the Ministerial Declaration by participating in inter-governmental negotiating sessions in Geneva over the coming months. EU member states have agreed to provide and co-ordinate appropriate input to these sessions via the Austrian presidency.
	There is a time-tabled session within the Ministerial segment of the Fourth World Water Forum for Ministers who are present to sign the declaration.

World Water Forum

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 20 December 2005, Official Report, column 2679W, on the World Water Forum, when the inter-governmental negotiating session on the Ministerial Declaration for the World Water Forum will take place; where it will be held; and which governments he expects to attend.

Gareth Thomas: The first inter-governmental negotiating session on the Ministerial Declaration for the Fourth World Water Forum will be held on Monday the 23rd of January in Geneva. EU member states will provide appropriate co-ordinated input through the Austrian presidency.

World Water Forum

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 20 December 2005, Official Report, column 2679W, on the World Water Forum, whether the UK Government will be attending the inter-governmental negotiating session on the Ministerial Declaration for the World Water Forum; and what his aims and objectives are for UK contributions to the declaration.

Gareth Thomas: It is likely that environment officials from the Department for the Environment, Food and Agriculture (DEFRA) or the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) will attend this first negotiating session. However, UK inputs will be co-ordinated through the EU by the Austrian presidency.
	The UK has not strongly supported the need for a ministerial statement, following so closely from the Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) 13. Our key objective is therefore to work through the EU to ensure that outcomes from the CSD are consolidated in any new negotiated statement.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Adult Education and Training

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost to public funds was of (a) adult education and (b) education and training for those aged over 22 years in each year from 199697; what allocation has been made for each year to 200809; and if she will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: In 200102 the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) spent 2,236 million on adult programmes including Further Education, Work Based Learning, Adult and Community Learning and other programmes. This increased to 2,427 million in 200203 and to 2,866 million in 200304. These figures are available from the LSC's published accounts. Figures for adult education for the years prior to 2001 are not comparable as the budget was split between a range of different organisations.
	Since 1997 Government funding for further education and training has increased by around 2.5 billion or around 48 per cent. in real terms. In 2004/05 over 1,600 million of further education funding was spent on adults aged over 22. Information for earlier years is not available. The LSC has been allocated 8.5 billion for 200607 and 8.9 billion for 200708 for education and training for adults and young people. Allocations for 200809 have not yet been made.
	On 21 October 2005 I set out the Government's priorities for the learning and skills sector and the impact on funding in 200607 and 200708, and full details can be found in 'Priorities for Success' on the LSC's website.

Adult Education and Training

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what opportunities are made available by her Department in Kettering constituency to (a) retrain, (b) reskill and (c) educate local adult residents for paid employment.

Phil Hope: The Government's Skills Strategy, 21st Century Skills: Realising Our Potential (July 2003) and Skills: Getting on in business, getting on at work (March 2005), set out our plans for increasing opportunities for adults to develop their skills for paid employment.
	Mark Haysom, the Council's chief executive of the LSC has written to the hon. Member with this information and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
	Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 13 January 2005
	Further to your Parliamentary Question regarding opportunities available in your constituency to retrain, reskill or educate adults for paid employment, I have been asked to be respond with specific information on what provision is offered in Kettering.
	Tresham Institute (FE College) is the main provider of training and skills in the town offering a range of full and part time courses at their St Mary's Road and Windmill Avenue campuses. A new 20 million campus (with a 6.93M contribution from the LSC) is due to open in Windmill Avenue in January 2007.
	Curriculum areas offered by the college include:-
	Art, Design, Media  Performance
	Business, Administration  Professional
	Computing  Information Communication Technology
	Essential Skills for Employment (specifically designed for people with learning difficulties or disabilities)
	Hairdressing, Beauty  Holistic Therapies,
	Health Care and Child Education
	Qualifications include NVQ's and BTEC as well as a wide range of A  AS level subjects and Access to Higher Education courses. At their nearby Corby and Wellingborough sites the college also offers courses in Engineering and Technology, Motor-sport and Motor Vehicle and Construction skills.
	The LSC provide funding for:
	All 1618 year olds;
	1st level 2 qualifications for those aged 19+;
	Skills for Life qualifications;
	Apprenticeships for age 1625;
	Sector Skill priorities training for Engineering, Logistics, Health and Social Care and Construction;
	Other activities available in Kettering include first step programmes designed to engage more difficult to reach individuals in learning and to facilitate progression to further training and employment. Programmes in this category include Family Learning, Neighbourhood Learning in Deprived Communities and Skills for Life (literacy and numeracy). Courses and events are held at a variety of schools and community venues and are delivered through the Northamptonshire County Council Adult Learning Service.
	A number of countywide European Social Fund projects do operate in the Kettering area these include Skills for Life, employability skills for individuals and workforce development projects.
	There are three UFI/Learndirect learning centres in Kettering each offering supported on line training mainly in Information Communication Technology and Skills for Life.
	The Employer Skills project delivered countywide via Business Link offers support for workforce development including a grant of up to 1000 for workforce skills development.
	To help individuals locate and choose the appropriate learning opportunities the Nextstep (Information Advice and Guidance) service operates two days a week in the town, currently using the Kettering Centre for the Unemployed premises.
	I hope the above information sufficiently answers your question. If you require any further information, please contact our local Executive Director, Richard Greenwood at Learning  Skills Council, Royal Pavilion, Summerhouse Road, Northampton NN3 6BJ (email richard.greenwood@lsc.gov.uk).

Adult Learning Inspectorate

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the national targets are for the Adult Learning Inspectorate; and what the performance of relevant offices in South Devon has been in relation to those targets.

Bill Rammell: The Adult Learning Inspectorate (the ALI) is a national organisation operating from its single office in Coventry. The grant in aid is allocated to the ALI on the basis of targets for the number of inspections to be delivered. For 200506, the target for new inspections was 789 and for re-inspections 262. As a national organisation, local allocations are not made so no details are available for South Devon.

Aimhigher

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which rural area has been chosen as one of the four area studies to be considered in the research report being conducted as part of the Aimhigher Strategy for Higher Education; and what criteria were considered when choosing the area.

Bill Rammell: The Aimhigher area studies are being carried out as part of strand 3 of the national Aimhigher evaluation. While we know which areas were shortlisted for interview, we do not know which four areas were actually interviewed by independent contractors EKOS for this forthcoming report, as all individuals and areas were guaranteed anonymity as part of the interview process. This was to ensure that the answers provided reflected the true opinions of the respondent.
	The main objective of the area selection process was to identify a broad range of Aimhigher Partnership areas which are reflective of the various types of Aimhigher activity undertaken throughout the country. Rurality was not one of the formal selection criteria of the initial shortlisting process, but a spread of areas with regard to the level of rurality or urbanisation was ensured.
	The contractors have informed us that all districts within the rural area selected are formally classified as rural in the ODPM user guide.

Certificate in Education

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  how many teachers working in (a) higher and (b) adult education will be affected by the requirement to take a Certificate in Education in order to continue to be eligible to teach;
	(2)  what financial support is available to teachers aged (a) under 55 and (b) over 55 years who are working in (i) adult and (ii) higher education and who are required to take a Certificate in Education in order to continue to be eligible to teach.

Phil Hope: Since September 2001, all teachers appointed in Further Education colleges have been required by law to obtain the Further Education Teachers' Certificate.
	From September 2007, all new teachers within the 'whole' of the publicly funded FE learning and skills sector will be expected to undertake the new teaching requirement, which is to obtain Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills status and a full Licence to Practise. This is set out in the Government's November 2004 reform document Equipping our Teachers for the Future: Reforming Initial Teacher Training for the Learning and Skills Sector.
	Higher Education teaching staff are not within the scope of the current and future regulations referred to above for FE. But, from 2006, it is expected that all new teaching staff in Higher Education will obtain a relevant teaching qualification accredited against national professional standards for teaching in Higher Education.
	The Government expect to spend a total of approximately 18 million on incentives to recruit and retain FE teachers in 2005/06 and a similar amount in 2006/07. Three schemes available to eligible college teachers are Teacher Training Bursaries, Golden Hellos, and Key Worker Living. There are no age limits on these incentives.
	The Department has also funded, through the Higher Education Funding Council for England, a Golden Hello programme to encourage new entrants into teaching shortage subjects within Higher Education, totalling 20 million from 200304 to 200506.

Departmental Expenditure

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the (a) public and (b) voluntary and private organisations to which her Department made payments through grants or contracts in excess of 20,000 excluding the Department's administrative expenditure in 200405.

Bill Rammell: The Department's accounting system does not separately identify private organisations who receive grants or contracts and the information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. A list of bodies identified as in the voluntary sector which received grants or contracts, excluding the Department's administrative expenditure in excess of 20,000 are as follows:
	Voluntary Organisations who received over 20,000 in 200405
	National Family Planning Institute
	Parentline Plus
	Young Minds
	National Council for One Parent Families
	ContinYou (CEDC)
	Parent Education Support Forum
	Advisory Centre for Education
	Royal National Institute for the Blind
	Trust for the Study of Adolescence
	YMCA England
	Race Equality Unit
	Local NE Community Foundation
	Children's Legal Centre
	Lubavitch Youth
	Family Rights Group
	Barnardos (Babyfather and Wigton)
	National Deaf Children's Society
	The Warren
	National Black Boys Can Association
	Agency for Culture and Change Management
	NACRO (Sheffield)
	South London Tamil Welfare Group
	Circles Network
	BAPS Care 4 Children
	Action for Prisoners Families
	Positive Parenting Publications
	Wai Yin Chinese Women Society
	Film IT
	Place to be
	Change
	British Refugee Council
	Eating Disorders Association
	One Plus One
	Coram Family
	Leeds Animation Workshop
	Good Shepherd Charities for Children
	Childrens Foundation
	Fathers Direct
	Medway Ethnic Minority Forum
	Prader Willi Syndrome Association
	Barnardos (Halesowen)
	Families Need Fathers
	Single Parent Action Network
	Parents in PartnershipParent Infant Network
	YWCA England
	National Tenants' Resource Centre
	National Council of Voluntary Child Care Organisations
	Scope
	Chance UK
	Bradford Family Service Unit
	Centre for Fun and Families
	Project for Advocacy Counselling and Education
	Yemeni Economic and Training Centre
	NCH South West
	Coalition for the Removal of Pimping
	Henshaws Society for Blind People
	Island Volunteers
	National Autistic Society
	African Families Support Services
	Learning Partnerships
	Family Matters Institute
	Springboard Family Project
	Anyadwe Children and Family Welfare Association
	National Association of Child Care Centres
	Lambeth Mencap
	Children's Society
	Mancroft Advice Project
	Parents First
	Calderdale Womens Centre
	Paces Sheffield
	Care for the Family
	ARC
	Student Force for Sustainability
	New Forest and Romsey Mobile Community Project
	Crime Concern
	Family Nurturing Network

Direct Grants

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to her answer of 5 December 2005, Official Report, column 943W, on direct grants, how much grant was received in 200506 by each voluntary organisation listed.

Bill Rammell: Information on the grants paid to the voluntary organisations to date in 200506 are as follows. Updated figures for 200506 will be available in April 2006.
	
		Voluntary Organisations 200506
		
			  
		
		
			 Parentline Plus 2,307,833.00 
			 National Association of Child Contact Centres 541,993.56 
			 Local NE Community Foundation 406,055.43 
			 OCC 214,000.00 
			 Advisory Centre for Education 168,453.15 
			 National Council of One Parent Families 158,787.00 
			 Trust for the Study of Adolescence 147,389.32 
			 National Family Planning Institute 133,451.80 
			 Children's Legal Centre 110,024.50 
			 Circles Network 104,250.00 
			 Scope 97,240.00 
			 Film IT 93,750.00 
			 Young Minds 87,948.13 
			 YMCA England 83,250.00 
			 NACRO (Sheffield) 74,862.00 
			 National Deaf Children's Society 66,250.00 
			 Agency for Culture and Change Management 66,000.00 
			 National Council of Voluntary Child Care Organisations 65,245.00 
			 National Black Boys Can Association 56,250.00 
			 Families Need Fathers 53,476.19 
			 Family Rights Group 52,500.00 
			 National Tenants' Resource Centre 50,500.00 
			 South London Tamil Welfare Group 50,250.00 
			 Eating Disorders Association 41,253.00 
			 Positive Parenting Publications 41,250.00 
			 Lubavitch Youth 41,250.00 
			 Wai Yin Chinese Women Society 41,250.00 
			 Learning Partnerships 41,250.00 
			 NCH South West 40,500.00 
			 Student Force for Sustainability 37,755.09 
			 Change 36,750.00 
			 Good Shepherd Charities for Children 36,000.00 
			 Family Matters Institute 33,750.00 
			 Race Equality Unit 33,750.00 
			 Princess Royal Trust for Carers 33,110.00 
			 Royal National Institute for the Blind 33,000.00 
			 Springboard Family Project 29,250.00 
			 Anyadwe Children and Family Welfare Association 28,500.00 
			 Action for Prisoners Families 27,500.00 
			 Calderdale Womens Centre 27,000.00 
			 New Forest and Romsey Mobile Community Project 18,000.00 
			 Mancroft Advice Project 8,750.00 
			 Parent Education Support Forum 1,640.00 
			 National Autistic Society 411.25 
			 Forum on Prisoner Education 78.00 
			 One Plus One 50.00 
			 NCH 20.00

Early Years Education

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans her Department has to improve (a) early years education and (b) after-school activities in Westmorland and Lonsdale.

Beverley Hughes: The Government have invested well over 17 billion on early years and childcare services since 1997 as part of an unprecedented expansion of provision for young children and families. The 2005 Foundation Stage Profile results for this local authority demonstrate that generally children are achieving good levels of development by the end of the Foundation Stage. Nonetheless, we want to continue to improve outcomes.
	The Ten Year Childcare Strategy sets out ambitious plans to create a sustainable framework for high quality services for children and families. To support this, the Childcare Bill 2005 will take forward, and give statutory force to key commitments.
	To raise the quality of early education the Bill provides for a new duty on local authorities to improve the outcomes of all children under 5, and close the gaps between groups with the poorest outcomes and children more generally, by ensuring early years services are integrated and accessible. The Bill also provides for a reformed and simplified regulatory framework for early years and childcare to reduce bureaucracy and raise quality.
	Local authorities receive support on early education through the Foundation Stage strand of the Primary National Strategy (PNS). That support includes disseminating effective practice; supporting the transition from Foundation Stage to Key Stage 1; supporting integrated provision; ICT development in the early years; working with parents as partners; and helping to embed the Foundation Stage Profile.
	All local authorities now have access to Key Elements of Effective Practice (KEEP), guidance developed through sector wide consultation by the Foundation Stage strand of the PNS. KEEP represents an agreed view across the sector about the knowledge; skills, understanding and attitudes practitioners need to effectively support young children's learning and thereby raise quality.
	We have committed 790 million over 200508 to support the development of extended services in or through schools which includes after school activities. 110 million of this was allocated in 200506 and Lancashire local authority received 1,824,687. We are unable to break this information down to parliamentary constituency level.
	Of the 680 million to be allocated across 200608, 250 million will go direct to schools through the School Standards Grant and the remaining 430 million will be distributed to local authorities through the Standards Fund and the General Sure Start Grant. Of this Lancashire local authority will receive 3,531,061 in 200607 and 4,515,291 in 200708. The funding is to 'kick start' extended services and can be used flexibly, for example, to support the development of childcare including the training of childcare workers. Many schools will choose to develop services in partnership with existing local private or voluntary sector providers.
	We are also funding the National Remodelling Team (NRT), Continyou and 4Children to support local authorities and schools nationally as they implement extended services. This support includes guidance on developing and sustaining childcare and working with existing voluntary and private providers to improve the delivery of after school childcare.

Further and Higher Education Private Sponsorship

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what her policy is on the role of private sponsorship in further and higher education.

Bill Rammell: We welcome both private and public sponsorship in further and higher education. Sponsorship can help build better links between employers and institutions and the additional income which it brings can help institutions in both sectors to identify and play to their individual strengths.

Fire Risk (Schools)

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many responses were received by her Department to the public consultation on the draft guidance Building Bulletin 100, Designing and Managing Against the Risk of Fires in Schools.

Jacqui Smith: Public consultation on Building Bulletin 100 (BB 100), Designing and Managing Against the Risk of Fire in Schools, concluded on 18 November 2005 and 68 responses were received. A number of these included comments, some extensive, and they are now being analysed. We expect to publish the final analysis on the Department's website by 31 March.

Foreign Students

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many foreign students are studying in the UK, broken down by country of origin.

Bill Rammell: The available information is given in the table.
	Enrolments to UK HE institutions by non-UK domiciles, 2004/05
	
		
			 Country of domicile Enrolments 
		
		
			 EU domiciles  
			 Greece 19,685 
			 Irish Republic 16,345 
			 Germany 12,555 
			 France 11,685 
			 Spain 6,000 
			 Cyprus 5,675 
			 Italy 5,315 
			 Sweden 3,430 
			 Portugal 2,785 
			 Netherlands 2,430 
			 Belgium 2,400 
			 Poland 2,185 
			 Finland 1,755 
			 Denmark 1,660 
			 Austria 1,325 
			 Luxembourg 820 
			 Gibraltar 620 
			 Czech Republic 605 
			 Malta 590 
			 Hungary 585 
			 Lithuania 420 
			 Slovakia 355 
			 Slovenia 315 
			 Latvia 270 
			 Estonia 185 
			   
			 Non-EU other overseas  
			 China (People's Republic of) 52,675 
			 India 16,685 
			 United States 14,385 
			 Malaysia 11,475 
			 Hong Kong 10,780 
			 Nigeria 8,145 
			 Pakistan 6,545 
			 Japan 6,180 
			 Taiwan 5,880 
			 Canada 4,190 
			 Thailand 3,940 
			 South Korea 3,845 
			 Singapore 3,630 
			 Norway 3,345 
			 Ghana 3,035 
			 Kenya 2,975 
			 Zimbabwe 2,660 
			 Saudi Arabia 2,440 
			 Sri Lanka 2,420 
			 Russia 2,025 
			 Bangladesh 1,945 
			 Turkey 1,915 
			 Mexico 1,845 
			 United Arab Emirates 1,805 
			 Iran 1,750 
			 Mauritius 1,660 
			 Australia 1,610 
			 South Africa 1,530 
			 Switzerland 1,500 
			 Libya 1,305 
			 Jordan 1,295 
			 Oman 1,150 
			 Indonesia 1,150 
			 Brazil 1,130 
			 Israel 1,120 
			 Vietnam 1,110 
			 Tanzania 985 
			 Bahrain 965 
			 Philippines 955 
			 Jamaica 940 
			 Uganda 890 
			 Kuwait 885 
			 Egypt 805 
			 Brunei 800 
			 Trinidad and Tobago 765 
			 Botswana 690 
			 Bulgaria 605 
			 Lebanon 585 
			 Romania 580 
			 New Zealand 560 
			 Zambia 545 
			 Algeria 545 
			 Ukraine 525 
			 Qatar 510 
			 Syria 495 
			 Colombia 485 
			 Barbados 480 
			 Nepal 460 
			 Malawi 440 
			 Argentina 370 
			 Cameroon 370 
			 Kazakhstan 360 
			 Serbia and Montenegro 345 
			 Iceland 345 
			 Gambia 340 
			 Sudan 340 
			 Venezuela 320 
			 Chile 310 
			 Sierra Leone 280 
			 Yemen 240 
			 Albania 235 
			 Ethiopia 235 
			 Bahamas 230 
			 Peru 230 
			 Croatia 220 
			 Burma 200 
			 Seychelles 200 
			 Angola 195 
			 Bermuda 190 
			 Morocco 185 
			 St. Lucia 180 
			 Iraq 175 
			 Uzbekistan 165 
			 North Korea 155 
			 Maldives 150 
			 Macao 145 
			 Belarus 125 
			 Cayman Islands 115 
			 Ivory Coast 110 
			 Bosnia and Herzegovina 105 
			 Guyana 105 
			 Ecuador 100 
			 Afghanistan 100 
			 Somalia 95 
			 Macedonia 95 
			 Azerbaijan 90 
			 Greenland 90 
			 Mozambique 85 
			 Georgia 85 
			 Mongolia 85 
			 Bolivia 85 
			 Antigua and Barbuda 80 
			 Rwanda 75 
			 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 75 
			 Namibia 70 
			 Swaziland 70 
			 Kyrgyzstan 65 
			 Tunisia 65 
			 Moldova 65 
			 West Indies (not otherwise specified) 65 
			 Eritrea 65 
			 Congo (People's Republic) 60 
			 French Possessions not elsewhere classified 55 
			 Papua New Guinea 50 
			 Grenada 50 
			 Uruguay 50 
			 British Virgin Islands 50 
			 Panama 50 
			 Dominica 45 
			 Armenia 45 
			 Belize 45 
			 St. Kitts and Nevis 45 
			 Costa Rica 40 
			 Turks and Caicos Islands 40 
			 Tajikistan 40 
			 Congo (Democratic Republic) 40 
			 Monaco 35 
			 Fiji 35 
			 Senegal 35 
			 Guatemala 30 
			 Cambodia 30 
			 Lesotho 30 
			 Dominican Republic 30 
			 Gabon 30 
			 Bhutan 25 
			 Guinea 25 
			 Monserrat 25 
			 Turkmenistan 25 
			 Burundi 25 
			 Cuba 25 
			 Madagascar 25 
			 Liberia 25 
			 Puerto Rico 20 
			 Togo 20 
			 El Salvador 20 
			 Falkland Islands 20 
			 British Antarctic Territory 20 
			 Dutch West Indies 20 
			 Mali 20 
			 Nicaragua 20 
			 CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) 20 
			 British Indian Ocean Territory 20 
			 Central African Republic 15 
			 Honduras 15 
			 Mauritania 15 
			 San Marino 15 
			 Benin 15 
			 Niger 15 
			 Paraguay 15 
			 St. Helena Dependencies 15 
			 Liechtenstein 15 
			 Equatorial Guinea 15 
			 Anguilla 15 
			 Laos 10 
			 Tonga 10 
			 Gilbert Islands 10 
			 Chad 10 
			 Djibouti 10 
			 Burkina 10 
			 US Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands 10 
			 Haiti 5 
			 Andorra 5 
			 Vanuatu 5 
			 Surinam 5 
			 Samoa 5 
			 Windward Islands (not elsewhere specified) 5 
			 Leeward Islands (not otherwise specified) (6) 
			 Solomon Islands (6) 
			 Cape Verde Islands (6) 
			 Guinea-Bissau (6) 
			 Sao Tome and Principe (6) 
			 Mayotte (6) 
			 Marshall Islands (6) 
			 Nauru (6) 
			 Tuvalu (6) 
			 Comoros (6) 
			 Pitcairn Islands (6) 
			 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (6) 
			 Micronesia (6) 
			 East Timor (6) 
			 Overseasdetermined by fee eligibility 1,305 
			 Not known (6) 
			 Stateless (6) 
			 Total 318,400 
		
	
	(6) Less than 3.
	Note:
	Figures are on a HESA standard registration population basis and are rounded to the nearest 5.

Medical Students

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether medical students with a first degree from a UK institution will be permitted to defer payment of up-front tuition fees.

Bill Rammell: Graduates with an honours degree undertaking a second undergraduate degree in medicine, or other subjects, will not be entitled to a government tuition fee loan when introduced in 2006/07. The Department of Health does pay the fees of undergraduate medical students, including those with a previous graduate qualification, in years 5 and 6. Medical students on four year fast track courses do not pay tuition fee contributions, except in their first year, because the Department of Health pays the fees in years 2 to 4. However, graduate medical students during their early years of study are eligible for subsidised maintenance loans, and in the latter years of study are additionally eligible for bursaries and reduced rate maintenance loans when they access Department of Health support.

National Parenting Academy

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  where the National Parenting Academy will be based;
	(2)  what plans she has made to ensure country-wide access to the National Parenting Academy.

Beverley Hughes: We do not anticipate that the National Parenting Academy will have a single national base. We envisage that it will take the form of a network of educators who will be attached to existing educational organisations and institutions. The network of educators will be accessible country-wide.

National Parenting Academy

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what powers the National Parenting Academy will have.

Beverley Hughes: The National Parenting Academy will not be a formally constituted public body and therefore will not have formal powers.

National Parenting Academy

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what criteria will be used by the National Parenting Academy when it decides which parents its trained professionals should assist.

Beverley Hughes: Local authorities and children's trusts, together with their partners and local professionals who work with children and parents, will identify parents in their local area who are most likely to benefit from support.

National Parenting Academy

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what methods will be used by the National Parenting Academy to assist professionals to help parents to bring up their children.

Beverley Hughes: The National Parenting Academy will use evidence-based parenting interventions which have a proven track record of success. The most effective parent support programmes have a clear theoretical underpinning, follow a programme manual and usually last 812 weeks.

National Parenting Academy

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how it will be decided which professionals will attend the National Parenting Academy.

Beverley Hughes: Local authorities and children's trusts, together with their partners and local practitioners, will identify training needs within their area and decide which professionals are best placed to receive training in delivering evidence-based parenting interventions.

Pupil Enrolment

Michael Wills: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the level of pupil enrolment for a school to remain viable.

Jacqui Smith: It is for local authorities to decide whether a school is viable as part of their role in providing sufficient school places and education provision in their area.
	Authorities have considerable freedom in their funding of schools to construct factors in their local funding formulae, which take account of small schools by way of having lump sum curriculum or salary protection factors which can assist schools with a low number on roll (NOR).

Lone Parents

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what skills training her Department provides to help lone parents into employment.

Phil Hope: My Department is committed to helping people, including lone parents, gain the skills to help them into employment. Lone parents are identified as a priority disadvantaged group for the LSC, and FE colleges also provide financial assistance towards childcare costs from ring-fenced Learner Support Funds. The Government's Skills Strategy is focused on improving the employability of all adults with low skills, including lone parents. Many lone parents lack qualifications at or above level 2, are therefore a priority for support; including Information, Advice and Guidance and free tuition from 200607 for a first full Level 2 qualification.
	DfES also has specific strategies to help teenage parents into learning. For example, through the Care to Learn programme, 22 million is being made available in 200506 to provide help with childcare costs for an estimated 4,700 young parents; and those aged 16 and 17 and caring for their child and in learning also receive the education maintenance allowance maximum of 30 per week, plus attendance and completion bonuses.
	In addition, my Department works with Jobcentre Plus to support the new deal for lone parents which provides a package of advice and support to help and encourage lone parents not in work to improve their employment opportunities.

Student Finance

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  how many and what percentage of part-time undergraduate students would be eligible for the financial support package announced in October 2005 if the threshold of access was (a) 50 credits, (b) 40 credits and (c) 30 credits; and what estimate her Department has made of the additional costs of extending eligibility in each case;
	(2)  how many and what percentage of part-time undergraduate students are likely to study at less then 60 credits per annum in the first three years of the operation of the financial support package announced in October 2005;
	(3)  how many and what percentage of part-time undergraduate students will be eligible for the financial support package announced in October 2005; and what the estimated cost is of this package for each of the first three years of its operation.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 12 January 2006
	From 2006/07 statutory fee support for part-time students with the lowest incomes will increase by more than a quarter, with 85,000 expected to receive fee support (approximately a third of eligible part-time undergraduate students).
	The estimated cost of the new statutory part-time fee support package for 200607 and 200708 is approximately 40 million per year. Part-time students may also be eligible for a grant towards travel, books and other course costs; that is expected to cost approximately 20 million per year.
	In addition, the discretionary funds available to institutions to help part-time students will quadruple: funds allocated for part-time students under the Access to Learning Fund will rise in 2006 from 3 million to 12 million, although the Fund may be used flexibly across full-time and part-time students. Institutions will be able to use this resource as an additional fee support on top of the grant or to increase help to students facing financial hardship.
	Funding for 200809 will be considered as part of the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review.
	In 2003/04, 239,000 English-domiciled, part-time undergraduate students 1 studied at less than 50 per cent. of a full-time equivalent course at an English Higher Education Institution (HEI), representing 55 per cent. of all part-time undergraduate students at English HEIs. We have not made projections for students studying at less than 50 per cent. and have not made estimates of extending eligibility for statutory fee support below 50 per cent.
	1 Students with prior degrees are not normally eligible for statutory support.

Student Finance

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the number of undergraduate students who declared themselves bankrupt in London in each year since 1997.

Bill Rammell: The table shows student loan borrowers who have informed the Student Loans Company of their bankruptcy and whose awarding local authority is in London, by calendar year of bankruptcy, since 1997.
	
		
			 Calendar year Borrowers(7) 
		
		
			 1997 1 
			 1998 0 
			 1999 2 
			 2000 2 
			 2001 7 
			 2002 6 
			 2003 30 
			 2004 70 
		
	
	(7) Figures cover loans with the Student Loans Company only.
	Notes:
	1. Figures separately identifying undergraduates are not available; students on postgraduate initial teacher training courses can be eligible for loans.
	2. There may be delays between borrowers becoming bankrupt and notifying the Student Loans Company, therefore figures could increase in future.
	Source:
	Student Loans Company.
	There are several possible reasons for the rise in bankruptcy figures. Media coverage of the issue of student loan borrowers declaring themselves bankrupt during the passage of the Enterprise Act 2002 may have contributed to the rise in bankruptcies in 2003 and 2004. In addition, one of the effects of the Enterprise Act itself was to reduce the period of discharge from bankruptcy from three years to one. As a result provisions were included in the Higher Education Act 2004 to prevent student loans being written off on discharge from bankruptcy.
	Bankrupt student loan borrowers, though, continue to benefit from the same non-commercial terms as other borrowers, including income thresholds and repayment in line with income. Income-contingent loan borrowers are not required to repay if their annual income is below 15,000.

Sure Start

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children are participating in the Sure Start programme in Tamworth constituency.

Beverley Hughes: Sure Start Tamworth has 488 children aged four and under in its catchment area, which covers the wards of Glascote and Belgrave. During the last 12 month period for which data exists, it had delivered services to 448 of those children.
	During the second phase of roll out of Sure Start Children's Centres from April 2006, Sure Start Tamworth is set to become a children's centre, and will continue to offer an expanded range of integrated services to these children and their families.

University Tuition Fees

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations her Department has received from Russell Group universities regarding the adequacy of tuition fee levels.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 9 January 2006
	The Secretary of State, I, and our predecessors have regular discussions, formal and informal, with Higher Education institutions, including Russell Group Universities, on a wide range of issues, including tuition fee levels. We have had no formal representations on the adequacy of tuition fee levels since the levels were set in regulations following the Higher Education Act 2004.
	Under that Act, tuition fees may not be increased by more than inflation until 1 January 2010 at the earliest. After that date, it could only happen if approval was given by both Houses of Parliament.
	There will be an independent review of the effect of our higher education funding reforms. The review, to be conducted by a Commission, working with the Office for Fair Access, will report to Parliament on the new arrangements based on the first three years' operation of the policy.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Benefit Claimants

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of claimants moving into work in the last 12 months who are financially worse off.

Margaret Hodge: holding answer 12 January 2006
	The information requested is not available.
	Through the introduction of the minimum wage, tax credits and changes to benefit rules we have made great strides to ensure that returning to work is more financially beneficial than staying on benefits. Employment is at record levels and this rising employment reflects people moving back into the jobs market who had not previously looked for a job, indicating that the Government's measures to make work pay are working.

Child Poverty

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether child poverty in Northern Ireland is included in assessments made in relation to child poverty targets.

Margaret Hodge: holding answer 12 January 2006
	Our current child poverty targets are for Great Britain only and therefore do not include Northern Ireland at this time.

Child Support

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of Child Support Agency cases which are being handled where the non-resident parent has been assessed as nil liability.

James Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is matter for the chief executive Mr. Stephen Geraghty. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
	Letter from Mr. Stephen Geraghty, dated 17 January 2006
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of Child Support Agency cases which are being handled where the non-resident parent has been assessed as nil liability.
	The table below shows the number of cases with a calculation or assessment in September 2005 broken down by whether or not they had a nil liability. Overall, 41% of cases had a nil liability, with the equivalent figures for new and old schemes being 12% and 51% respectively.
	
		Cases with a maintenance assessment or calculation by scheme and type of liabilitySeptember 2005
		
			  Old scheme New scheme Overall 
			  Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage 
		
		
			 Cases with a positive liability 407,000 49 244,000 88 651,000 59 
			 Cases with a nil liability 428,000 51 33,000 12 461,000 41 
			 Calculations/assessments performed 835,000  277,000  1,113,000  
		
	
	Notes:
	1. The above figures exclude an additional 30,000 old scheme cases which had a positive liability, but due to the non-cooperation of the non-resident parent a punitive interim assessment was imposed.
	2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000.
	3. Cases which can result in a nil liability under the old scheme are:
	People whose net income is less than the minimum amount of maintenance (200506 5.70 a week)
	People in receipt of sickness or disability benefit or award.
	People who are looking after a child, so that their protected income calculation includes an amount equal to the family premium or income support.
	Prisoners
	People aged under 18 who are receiving income support or income-based jobseeker's allowance.
	A non-resident parent (NRP) aged under 16, or aged 1618 and in full time non advanced education (that is, up to A level, NVQ level 3 or equivalent).
	An NRP receiving income support or income-based jobseeker's allowance, who satisfies the conditions for award of a family premium and who cares for a resident child for at least 104 nights a year.
	4. Cases which can result in a nil liability under the new scheme are:
	People whose net weekly income (including income from benefits) is less than 5 a week.
	Students in full-time education (full-time means a course at a recognised school or college where there is at least 12 hours a week tuition).
	An NRP aged under 16, or aged 1618 and in full-time non-advanced education (that is, up to A level, NVQ level 3 or equivalent).
	Prisoners.
	16 or 17 year oldsin receipt of income support or income based jobseekers allowance or a member of a couple in receipt of income support or income-based jobseekers allowance.
	People engaged in work-based training, or in Scotland, skillseekers training.
	People living in a care home or independent hospital who get a benefit, pension or allowance which would otherwise result in flat-rate liability of 5, or who are getting help from a local authority with the cost of accommodation.
	People in hospital who get a benefit, pension or allowance, which has been reduced to 'hospital pocket money' rate because of an extended stay in hospital (NB With the Government's announcement that reductions in benefit as a result of hospitalisation will cease from April 2006, it is intended that this category of nil rate will no longer apply from that date)
	An NRP who gets a benefit, pension or allowance, which would otherwise result in flat-rate liability of 5, and who shares the care of a qualifying child for at least 52 nights a year.
	I hope you find this information helpful.

Child Support

Stephen Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects to move onto the new Child Support Agency scheme those who are paying under the old scheme.

James Plaskitt: The remaining old scheme cases will transfer to the new scheme when Ministers are satisfied that it is working well. We are not willing to risk that flow of money and put at risk these cases by bringing them across before we are sure that the new system and operations are robust.

Child Support

Stephen Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps are taken to ensure that those resident in the Isle of Man meet obligations placed on them by the Child Support Agency.

James Plaskitt: The Child Support Agency does not have jurisdiction to make a maintenance calculation unless the parent with care, non-resident parent and qualifying child are habitually resident in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom does not include the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.

Immigration

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the impact of immigration on long-term unemployment.

Margaret Hodge: While there has not been a specific study focused on the impact of immigration on long term unemployment, research on the labour market effects of migration into the UK has shown that migration appears to have little effect on the labour market outcomes of the existing work force.

Incapacity Benefit

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the reform of incapacity benefit.

Margaret Hodge: holding answer 12 January 2006
	We will set out proposals for the reform of incapacity benefit in a Green Paper to be published later this month.

Pathways to Work

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Pathways to Work pilots in getting existing incapacity benefit claimants into work; and if he will make a statement.

Margaret Hodge: The early evidence from our pathways pilots is positive. Nearly 150,000 people have started on a pilot, including 11,200 existing claimants and there have been 19,500 job queries. As a result there has been an 8 percentage point increase in people leaving incapacity benefits after six months in pathways areas compared to the rest of the country.

Pathways to Work

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) of 12 December 2005, Official Report, column 1764W, on incapacity benefit, whether cost-benefit analysis has been carried out in relation to the Pathways to Work pilot scheme.

Margaret Hodge: The information requested is in Working Paper Incapacity Benefit ReformsPathways to Work Pilots performance and analysis a copy of which has been placed in the Library.
	The Pathways to Work districts are piloting new measures and innovative approaches to helping people with long-term illnesses or a disability to return to work. As pilot schemes, they are designed to test whether alternative approaches may be more effective than existing measures.
	Early results show off-flows from incapacity benefit at six months of around 48 per cent. in the pilot areas compared with around 40 per cent. nationally, an improvement of 8 percentage points, resulting in a reduction in the incapacity benefit case load which more than pays for the additional costs of the pilots.

Pathways to Work

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) of 12 December 2005, Official Report, column 1764W, on incapacity benefit, what assessment he has made of the percentage of new incapacity benefit claimants eligible for mandatory entry into the Pathways to Work who entered jobs; and if he will make a statement.

Margaret Hodge: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) of 12 December 2005, Official Report, columns 17641765W.

Pension Credit

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of how much will be spent on the (a) guarantee credit and (b) savings credit, assuming income taken into account for pension credit purposes rises in line with (i) inflation, (ii) earnings and (iii) at a mid-point between earnings and prices and assuming (A) 80 per cent. take up of the guarantee credit and 50 per cent. take up of the savings credit, (B) 80 per cent. take up of the guarantee credit and 60 per cent. take up of the savings credit and (C) 100 per cent. take up of both guarantee and savings credit, in (1) 200506, (2) 201011, (3) 202021, (4) 203031, (5) 204041 and (6) 205051.

Stephen Timms: The information is not available in the form requested. Such information as is available is given in the table.
	Projections of pension credit entitlement, and hence costs under alternative take-up scenarios, are not available at present, as they are dependent on National Statistics estimates of take-up; once these are available the projections will be updated. In addition, the cost of alternative levels of take-up, other than 100 per cent. also depends critically on the size of entitlements newly taken up under the alternative scenarios; it is not possible to estimate this realistically.
	The table shows expenditure under the three scenarios where income brought to account for pension credit is uprated in line with (i) prices, (ii) average earnings, (iii) midway between earnings and prices. All scenarios effectively assume a constant overall take-up rate beyond 200708, the end of the current planning period, and are based on the continuation of the current uprating policy.
	
		Table 1: Projections of pension credit expenditure in 200506 prices ( billion) assuming constant overall take-up from 200708
		
			 Income growth/credit type 200506 201011 202021 203031 204041 205051 
		
		
			 Prices   
			 Guarantee 5.4 6.9 8.9 14.5 21.1 26.5 
			 Savings 1.1 1.5 3.0 4.9 6.4 7.0 
			 Total 6.5 8.4 12.0 19.4 27.5 33.5 
			
			 Earnings   
			 Guarantee 5.4 6.1 5.1 6.0 6.9 7.5 
			 Savings 1.1 1.6 3.4 5.8 8.5 10.6 
			 Total 6.5 7.7 8.5 11.8 15.4 18.1 
			
			 Midway   
			 Guarantee 5.4 6.6 7.1 10.3 14.0 17.5 
			 Savings 1.1 1.6 3.5 6.0 8.7 10.4 
			 Total 6.5 8.2 10.6 16.3 22.7 27.9 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Figures are for Great Britain. They are in 200506 prices and rounded to the nearest 100 million.
	2. Pension credit projections assume the continuation of the current uprating of the guarantee element of pension credit by earnings, although the Government are not committed to this beyond 2008.
	3. Projections of expenditure for pension credit in the future are based on a long-term version of the Department's policy simulation model, which uses Family Resources Survey data for 200304 projected forward into the future to estimate the extent of eligibility and average award for each pensioner household on the survey.
	3. Expenditure figures for 200506 are consistent with the latest available forecasts from the pre-Budget report 2005.

Pensioners (Hendon)

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioners in Hendon have received (a) winter fuel payments, (b) winter fuel payments for over 80s, (c) council tax help and (d) extra living costs help for over 70s in 2005; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: Figures for this winter's payments are not yet available.
	In winter 200405 there were 17,660 people in the Hendon constituency who received a winter fuel payment and of these 4,075 received the extra payment for those aged 80 or over. We expect the numbers to be similar for this winter.
	We estimate that in the Hendon constituency around 11,000 people will receive the 200 aged related payment for help with council tax and around 2,500 people aged 70 or over will receive the 50 aged related payment to help with living expenses.
	Notes
	1. Actual figures for the number of winter fuel payments made are rounded to the nearest five, estimates for the council tax and living expenses payments are rounded to the nearest 500.
	2. Local authorities and parliamentary constituencies are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory.
	Source
	Information Directorate, 100 per cent. Sample.

Winter Fuel Payments

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what the total amount of winter fuel payments to each constituency in the UK has been since the introduction of the payments; and what the overall total was in each year;
	(2)  how many people received winter fuel payments in each ward in each constituency in the UK in 200405, broken down by region; and what the value was of these payments in each case.

Stephen Timms: holding answer 12 January 2006
	The information requested is not available. Total expenditure on winter fuel payments in Great Britain, and total number of recipients in each year, are as follows:
	
		
			  Winter fuel payment expenditure ( million) Total recipients (Thousand) 
		
		
			 199798 191  
			 199899 194  
			 19992000 759 10,084 
			 200001 1,749 11,106 
			 200102 1,681 11,202 
			 200203 1,705 11,348 
			 200304 1,916 11,468 
			 200405 1,954 11,401 
		
	
	Notes:
	1 Figures are for Great Britain.
	2 Expenditure figures are rounded to the nearest  million and are given in cash prices.
	3 Recipient figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.
	4 Includes 100 over-80s payment from 200304.
	Source:
	DWP benefit expenditure tables, consistent with PER 2005. These can be found on the internet at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/expenditure.asp
	Breakdowns at constituency and ward level are available from 19992000. This information has been placed in the Library. For 200405, a comprehensive breakdown at these levels includes age-related payments for people aged 70 or over, which cannot be separated from winter fuel payments, so the total figure is higher than that given above for Great Britain.

Women's Pensions

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what representations he has received about improving the pension provision of women who have stayed at home to bring up their children; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: The Department for Work and Pensions has received representations from a range of stakeholders such as the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Trades Union Congress, Age Concern and the Fawcett Society on ways to improve the pension position of women.
	Ministers have also met with hon. and learned Members with a specific interest in the subject of women's pensions.
	We will be assessing all proposals against our five key tests to ensure they are fair, affordable, simple, sustainable and promote personal responsibility. We will keep an open mind, not ruling anything in or out at this time and then come back to the House in the spring with our proposals.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Administrative Costs

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total administration costs of his core Department were in the last period for which figures are available; and whether these are regarded as (a) identifiable and (b) non-identifiable for the purposes of public expenditure statistical analyses.

Alan Johnson: Total administrative costs for the core Department for 200405 were 308 million. Of these 306.6 million are regarded as non-identifiable, and 1.4 million as identifiable, for the purposes of the country and regional analysis exercise, which is published in chapter 8 of the public expenditure statistical analyses.

Bus Services

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will ask the Office of Fair Trading to investigate bus service provision at district council level in metropolitan districts and larger unitary district councils.

Gerry Sutcliffe: It is for the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), as the UK's independent competition authority, to decide whether to investigate competition issues. If anyone has any evidence of anti-competitive behaviour or market failure in bus service provision they should inform the OFT directly.

Civil Servants

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many and what proportion of each civil service grade in his Department is located in each(a) region and (b) nation of the UK; what the average salary is for each grade; and if he will make a statement.

Alan Johnson: My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Cabinet Office will write to the hon. Member with details for the civil service of the percentage of staff in post by region and grade responsibility and the median salary of staff in post by region and grade responsibility as at 1 April 2004. Copies of his letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the hon. Member for Walsall North will receive a reply to his letter of 2 November sent to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and transferred to his Department.

Alan Johnson: holding answer 12 December 2005
	The letter from my hon. Friend was not a matter for the DTI and was transferred to the Department for Transport for reply on 6 December.

Credit Card Charges

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the Government will introduce legislation preventing credit card companies sending out credit card statements which are received by customers too late for customers to avoid incurring late penalty charges and interest; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Government have no plans to legislate on this matter. However, in 2004 the Department made regulations that require lenders to give consumers clear information about the key features of credit products before and at the time the agreement is made, including the way in which interest is treated and on default charges. This will help consumers to understand credit products better, shop around for better products and increase competition among UK credit providers.
	The Consumer Credit Bill will further improve consumer rights by giving them more effective options to challenge unfairness in credit relationships and to resolve disputes with lenders. It will also improve the powers of the Office of Fair Trading to take action against lenders who exploit or harm consumers.

Damages

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer of 5 December 2005, Official Report, column 1006W, on damages, if he will make a statement on each case to which he refers.

Alan Johnson: All of the cases listed in my answer of 5 December 2005, Official Report, column 1006W, involved settlements with individual members of staff. It is not my Department's policy to provide confidential information relating to the circumstances of each claim from which employees are or might be identified.

Departmental Conferences

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what financial provision his Department has made for branded (a) conference bags, (b) plastic carrier bags and (c) pens for distribution at conferences held by his Department in each of the last three years.

Alan Johnson: The purchase of promotional items of this nature is done on an individual basis for each particular campaign or conference. Therefore, no budgetary provisions are made exclusively for these specific items but they are considered as part of the wider marketing mix.

Departmental Estate

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the former (a) buildings and (b) land of (i) his Department and (ii) (A) non-departmental public bodies, (B) agencies and (C) independent statutory bodies for which his Department is responsible which have been sold since 7 May 1997; what the sale price of each (1) was at the time of sale and (2) is at current prices; and whether the money accrued was (x) retained by his Department and (y) claimed by the Treasury.

Alan Johnson: There have been no sales of land or buildings on the DTI HQ estate since 1997 based on our office records. Such information on non departmental public bodies and other public bodies is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Estate

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what (a) land and (b) property his Department owns in Southend West constituency.

Alan Johnson: The DTI administrative estate does not include any land or property in the Southend West constituency.

Departmental Expenditure

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much the Department and its agencies have spent on (a) the design and production of new logos and (b) employing external (i) public relations and (ii) graphic design agencies in each year since 2000, broken down by project.

Alan Johnson: A comprehensive list of all projects is not held centrally and to do so could be done only at disproportionate cost. However, we can supply the following:
	(a) Design and production of new logos
	On identity development and design guidelines towards the rationalisation around the single DTI logo:
	
		
			   
		
		
			 200203 450,000 
			 200304 100,000 
			 200405 10,000 
		
	
	
		
			   
		
		
			 The re-branding of British Trade International (BTI) to UK Trade and Investment (UKTI): 
			 2003 600,000 
			   
			 The proposal to change the name of the DTI: 
			 2005 30,000 
		
	
	(b) Employing external:
	(i) public relations agencies
	Information provided from COI shows that the DTI spent the following amounts on:
	
		
			   
		
		
			 2002  
			 UKO4B 661,606.84 
			 Invest UK 126,282.39 
			 SBS 178,696.26 
			 Trade Partners 247,651.65 
			   
			 2003  
			 Trade Partners 546,312.99 
			 UKO4B 443,767.40 
			 Invest UK 447,412.30 
			 SBS 295,607.01 
			   
			 2004  
			 Dispute Resolution 68,405.05 
			 Renewable Energy 516,490.60 
			 Best Business Practice 338,443.29 
			 Best Practice 151,827.51 
			 Renewable Energy 548,703.98 
			   
			 2005 (to date)  
			 Consumer Direct 138,560.25 
			 UKTI 121,840.54 
			 SBS 19,406.95 
			 Consumer Direct 22,975.59 
			 Consumer Directevent 6,902.50 
		
	
	(ii) graphic design agencies:
	Accurate figures are not able to be supplied as budgets for this type of expenditure are not held centrally. To do so would exceed disproportionate costs.
	Letter from Claire Clancy, dated 17 January 2006
	I am responding to your recently tabled Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on behalf of Companies House, which is an Executive Agency of the DTI.
	(a) Spend on the design and production of new logos is as follows:
	
		
			
		
		
			 2000 0  
			 2001 0  
			 2002 5,000 Re-branding project 
			 2003 0  
			 2004 530 Icon for PROOF (new product) 
			 2005 6,500 Icons for My Companies House 
		
	
	(b) Companies House does not employ any external agencies for public relations.
	External agencies have provided graphic design for our Annual Report and Accounts as follows:
	
		
			   
		
		
			 2000 n/a 
			 2001 n/a 
			 2002 8,000 
			 2003 9,000 
			 2004 9,912 
			 2005 9,963 
		
	
	n/a  not available
	Letter from Jeanne Spinks, dated 17 January 2006
	You asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, what the Department and its agencies have spent on (a) the design and production of new logos and (b) employing external (i) public relations and (ii) graphic design agencies in each year since 2000, broken down by project. I have been asked to reply in respect of the Employment Tribunals Service (ETS) which is an executive agency of the DTI.
	The Employment Tribunals Service has spent the following:
	(a) On designing and production of new logos since 2000 the Agency has spent10,407
	200001: 5,000 for design of Corporate Identity and new ETS logo
	200102: 4,982 for design of Corporate Identity
	200203: 425 for design of 'DTI Service' logo and boilerplate
	(b) (i) There has been no external expenditure on public relations since 2000.
	(b) (ii) Since 2000 the Employment Tribunals Service have spent the following employing external graphic design agencies44,328
	
		
			   
		
		
			 200001 15,514 
			 200102 4,560 
			 200203 4,358 
			 200304 5,396 
			 200405 7,970 
			 200506 6,530 
		
	
	Letter from Ron Marchant, dated 17 January 2006
	I am responding to this parliamentary question, tabled on 25 November 2005, regarding what the Department and its agencies have spent on (a) the design and production of new logos and (b) employing external (i) public relations and (ii) graphic design agencies in each year since 2000, broken down by project.
	
		
		
			 The Patent Office 200203 200304 200405 200506 to end October 
		
		
			 The design and production of new logos 0 0 0 0 
			 Public Relations 101,398 111,963 102,125 59,755 
			 National Awareness Campaign   150,706 58,452 
			  
			 Graphic Design 
			 New Patent Literature 0 32,780 7,502 0 
			 Annual Report and Accounts 20,510 In House 12,175 3,533 
			 Business Advisor training packs 10,873 0 0 0 
			 Branding 0 1,453 0 0 
		
	
	Figures for 200001 and 200102 are not readily available and could not be prepared within the deadline set.
	Letter from Desmond Flynn, dated 17 January 2006
	The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply to you directly on behalf of The Insolvency Service in respect of your question (2054/2005) asking what the Department and its agencies have spent on (a) the design and production of new logos and (b) employing external (i) public relations and (ii) graphic design agencies in each year since 2000, broken down by project.
	The Insolvency Service has not spent any money on the design and production of new logos or employing external public relations companies each financial year from 2000 to date.
	Letter from Martin Birdseye, dated 17 January 2006
	The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has asked me to reply on behalf of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) to your question regarding what the Department and its Agencies have spent on (a) the design and production of new logos and (b) employing external (i) public relations and (ii) graphic design agencies in each year since 2000, broken down by project.
	
		
			 000 
			 NWML total spend in year: 200001 200102 200203 200304 200405 200506 
		
		
			 On . . . .   
			 (a) Design and production of new logos 0 0 0 0 0 0.3(8) 
			 (b) (i) Employing external public relations 0 0 0 7 8k 0 
			 (c) (ii) graphic design agencies(9) n/a n/a n/a 6 11 3 
		
	
	n/a = not available.
	(8) NWML spent 300 in July 2005 developing a logo for a new service in respect of the enforcement of the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) Regulations.
	(9) These costs include design for posters for exhibitions, exhibition panels, a biannual corporate newsletter sent to customers, design for leaflets and brochures, design for a CD cover for the NWML video, and design for the Annual Report and Accounts. In 200506, NWML has spent 3k YTD.

Departmental Expenditure

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the annual expenditure on training and development by (a) his Department and (b) each (i) non-departmental public body, (ii) executive agency and (iii) other public body for which he is responsible in (A) Scotland, (B) Wales, (C) each of the English regions and (D) Northern Ireland was in each of the last three financial years; and what the planned expenditure is for 200506.

Alan Johnson: The following table shows the core DTFs expenditure on training and development in each of the last three financial years.
	
		
			  Amount ( million) 
		
		
			 200405 5 
			 200304 4.5 
			 200203 5.04 
		
	
	The Department of Trade and Industry is expected to spend 5 million on training and development in period 200506. This figure is for core DTI only. The other organisationsNDPBs, executive agencies etc.have devolved training and development budgets and the cost of collecting this information would be disproportionate.

Departmental Expenditure

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the annual expenditure on (a) fixtures and fittings, (b) general office expenses and (c) office equipment was of (i) his Department and (ii) each (A) non-departmental public body, (B) executive agency and (C) other public body for which his Department is responsible in (1) Scotland, (2) Wales, (3) each of the English regions and (4) Northern Ireland in each of the last three financial years; and what the planned expenditure is for 200506 in each case.

Alan Johnson: Information on these expenditure items within the DTI HQ estate is not available by location and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Such information on non departmental public bodies and other public bodies is not held centrally and again could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Expenditure

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much his Department spent on bottled water in 200405.

Alan Johnson: Any costs associated with the provision of bottled water are not separately identified but such facilities are not standard within the DTI HQ buildings.

Departmental Staff

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the value is of (a) pay supplements, (b) bonuses and (c) other incentive packages that are payable in his Department on the basis of geographic location; how many people are in receipt of each payment; and what the total cost to his Department of each payment was in 200405.

Alan Johnson: There are no pay supplements, bonuses or other incentive packages that are payable to DTI staff on the basis of geographical location in the UK. Pay rates for staff below the senior civil service in DTI are set on London and National scales. Staff paid according to the London pay scales receive 3,500 more per annum on a full-time basis than those on the National scales.

Departmental Staff

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many civil servants in his Department worked from home for at least one day a week in the last year for which figures are available.

Alan Johnson: The Department does not centrally monitor the number of staff who work from home, since flexible working patterns, including working from home, are negotiated locally. However, in our recent staff survey 8 per cent. of staff reported that they worked from home regularly, at least one day a week.
	In 2002 the Department introduced a flexible working policy, including full guidance for managers and staff to ensure that new ways of working (including home working) are available to all individuals in all directorates and all grades, and that the benefits to stakeholders, customers, managers and staff are maximised.

Departmental Vehicles

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many cars are (a) owned and (b) leased by his Department; what models the cars are; what type of petrol each model requires; and what the fuel efficiency is of each model.

Alan Johnson: The information requested is as follows.
	(a) The Department does not own any vehicles.
	(b) The fuel efficiency and type of petrol required of each make and model of vehicle leased by staff for business use in the Department is:
	
		
			 Vehicle CO 2  emissions (g/km) Petrol type 
		
		
			 Citroen C3 1.4i LX 148 Unleaded 
			 Renault Clio 1.2 143 Unleaded 
			 Ford Focus l.8TDi 143 Diesel 
			 Ford KA 1.3i 154 Unleaded 
			 Vauxhall Vectra l.8LS 183 Unleaded 
		
	
	The following vehicles are provided by the Government Car Service for use by the DTI:
	
		
			 Vehicle CO 2  emissions (g/km) Petrol type 
		
		
			 4 Toyota Prius 104 Petrol/electric hybrid 
			 1 Ford Mondeo 218 Unleaded 
			 1 Ford Mondeo Zetec 218 Unleaded 
			 1 Rover 75 249 Unleaded

EU Employment Directive

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the EU Employment Directive will be incorporated into United Kingdom law.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The majority of the provisions of the EU Employment Directive 2000/78/EC have already been incorporated into United Kingdom law. The remaining requirementsrelating to age and certain provisions for disability discriminationare scheduled to come into force by 1 October 2006, in compliance with Article 18 of the Directive.

Food Retail Sector

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent research his Department has conducted into independent food retailing in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Department have not conducted any recent research into independent food retailing in the UK.

Food Retail Sector

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what meetings he has had with the Office of Fair Trading on structures in the grocery market; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and Ministers meet with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) on a regular basis to discuss topics of mutual interest.
	Competition in the supermarket and grocery sectors is a matter for the independent competition authorities, in this instance the OFT.

Interest Charges

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will place a cap on the level of interest money lending organisations can charge; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have no plans to introduce an interest rate ceiling in the United Kingdom. In the light of research, published by the Department in August 2004, the Government are not convinced that legislating for interest rate ceilings would help consumers.
	Rate ceilings could cause lenders to exit parts of the market and reduce the supply of certain credit products. This in turn could force many vulnerable consumers to use products inappropriate to their circumstances or even to go outside of the regulated market and borrow from illegal lenders.
	We will, however, be keeping the matter under review.

Lyons Inquiry

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether his Department has made a written submission to the Lyons inquiry on local government finance.

Alan Johnson: I refer to the reply previously given by the Minister for Local Government on 12 September 2005, Official Report, column 2431W.

Miners' Compensation

Michael Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease claimants have gone through the full medical assessment process to date; how many of those have been found to be suffering from an additional lung disease; and how many have (a) pneumoconiosis, (b) asbestosis or asbestos particles in the lung and (c) asthma.

Malcolm Wicks: holding answer 11 January 2006
	As at 30 November 2005, 274,599 medical assessments had been completed. Detailed figures of the incidence of other conditions found alongside Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) are not kept but our claims handlers estimate that there are co-morbid conditions found in around two thirds of cases where COPD is diagnosed (about 100,000 cases so far).

Nuclear Decommissioning

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to speed up the decommissioning of Magnox stations.

Malcolm Wicks: The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has set out its proposed approach to the decommissioning and clean up of its sites in its draft strategy and has confirmed that the closure dates for the remaining four operational Magnox power stations as those previously announced by BNFL. The NDA has indicated in the draft strategy its intention to speed up the decommissioning and clean up of Magnox and other reactor sites and to achieve final site clearance within 25 years, subject to the long term management arrangements for Intermediate Level Waste being available within the same time scale. The Scottish Ministers and I have until 31 March 2006 to consider and approve the NDA's proposed strategy.

Paternity Benefits

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the costs of paternity benefits arising from measures in the Government's Work and Families Bill for each year from 200506 to 201011; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The new paternity leave measures in the Work and Families Bill will be subject to further consultation and the date when they will come into effect has yet to be decided. The regulatory impact assessment for the Bill, which was published in October 2005, gives an initial cost estimate of 29.659.4 million in the first year of implementation. This will fall to 24.650.9 million in subsequent years.
	19.128.0 million of the costs in the first year will fall to the Exchequer, and 15.124.0 million in subsequent years. The remainder will fall to employers. The range of figures reflects the fact that the Government are still consulting on the detail of the scheme for additional paternity leave and pay there is some uncertainty about how many fathers will choose to take advantage of the new entitlements.

Post Office (Teynham)

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the future of Teynham post office.

Barry Gardiner: holding answer 16 January 2006
	This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. (POL) and the chief executive has been asked to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Royal Mail

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the board members of Royal Mail; and what the date of appointment was of each one.

Barry Gardiner: The Board Members of Royal Mail Holdings plc currently are:
	
		
			  Date of appointment 
		
		
			 Non-executive Directors  
			 Allan Leighton (Chairman) 25 March 2002 (Director from 2 Apr 2001) 
			 Sir Mike Hodgkinson 1 January 2003 
			 David Fish 1 January 2003 
			 Richard Handover 1 January 2003 
			 John Neill 1 January 2003 
			 Bob Wigley 1 April 2003 
			 Baroness Margaret Prosser 1 November 2004 
			 Helen Weir 1 January 2006 
			   
			 Executive Directors1  
			 Adam Crozier (CEO) 1 February 2003 
			 Tony McCarthy (HR) 6 January 2003 
			 David Burden (IT) 1 July 2004 
		
	
	(10) A new finance director (currently being recruited), Ian Griffiths (as MD Letters) and Alan Cook (as MD Post Office Ltd.) are due to join the Board in early 2006.

School Holidays (Price Rises)

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what investigations have been undertaken by (a) the Office of Fair Trading and (b) the Competition Commission into the practice of travel companies raising prices during school holidays.

Gerry Sutcliffe: holding answer 2006
	While neither body has undertaken a formal inquiry into the practice the OFT did consider similar issues in the course of an investigation into the cost of flight supplements for package holidays from Scottish airports in 2001. The subsequent report concluded that there were no grounds for action under competition law.
	The OFT's view is that in a competitive market it is inevitable that prices adjust based on supply and demand and one would therefore expect to see higher prices during school holidays when demand is greater relative to supply.

Sick Leave

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many of his Department's employees who are within one year of the official retirement age are on extended sick leave.

Alan Johnson: There are two employees in DTI HQ who have been on sick leave for at least three months and who are within a year, or later, of the normal retirement age. (normal retirement age is 60.)
	The DTI remains committed to managing sickness absence effectively and, where appropriate, to putting in place the recommendations of the 2004 Managing Sickness Absence in the Public Sector report to reduce long-term absence.

Sunday Trading

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer of 12 December 2005, Official Report, column 1675W, on Sunday trading hours, how many personal meetings he had with representatives of (a) trade unions, (b) supermarkets and (c) other large retail organisations in 2005 on Sunday trading.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The only meeting my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has held specifically on Sunday Trading to date was with USDAW (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) on 16 November 2005.

Sunday Trading

Andy Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  what recent written representations he has received on the (a) economic and (b) social implications of liberalised Sunday trading hours;
	(2)  what representations he has received from business stakeholders concerning the proposed review of Sunday trading laws.

Gerry Sutcliffe: We have received representations from a range of stakeholders on the issue and welcome further views.
	DTI officials have commissioned an independent cost-benefit analysis of the case for further liberalisation of the Sunday trading laws.

Sunday Trading

Andy Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the planned cost-benefit analysis of liberalisation of Sunday trading hours will invite representations from groups interested in the social cost of longer trading hours; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: We are very happy to receive representations from stakeholders on all issues relevant to Sunday trading. The DTI website gives details of how to submit views and evidence.

Sunday Trading Laws

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether a change in Sunday opening would require primary legislation; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I anticipate that primary legislation would be used to bring about any further liberalisation of Sunday Trading laws.

Sunday Trading Laws

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will strengthen the measures that protect those who for religious reasons do not wish to work on Sunday; and if he will include such proposals in the forthcoming consultation on changes to Sunday trading laws.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The right to opt-out of Sunday working under the ERA 1996 applies regardless of the individual's religion.
	We are happy to receive representations from stakeholders on all issues relevant to Sunday trading.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Animal Welfare Bill

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions he has had with relevant Ministers about the extension of the Animal Welfare Bill to Northern Ireland.

Angela Smith: When consideration was given to extending the powers of the Animal Welfare Bill to Northern Ireland, it was viewed that this was inappropriate, as England and Wales legislation is different from Northern Ireland where animal welfare legislation dating back to 1911 has already been consolidated by the Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) 1972.
	However, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is finalising a review of Northern Ireland animal welfare legislation in order to identify measures, which are necessary to strengthen existing powers, by Easter.
	My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has had no-discussions with relevant Ministers about the extension of the Animal Welfare Bill to Northern Ireland.

Animal Welfare Bill

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he plans to take steps to amend legislation on penalties for those found to be responsible for cruelty to animals in the light of recent cases in Northern Ireland.

Angela Smith: Unlike in the rest of the United Kingdom, where animal welfare legislation is at present spread over 23 Acts of Parliament going back to the Protection of Animals Act 1911, animal welfare legislation in Northern Ireland has already been simplified and consolidated by the Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) 1972.
	However, a review of animal welfare policy is currently being finalised with a view to identifying new measures that may be necessary to strengthen powers to deal with abuses of animal welfare, including illegal puppy farms, puppy trafficking and dog fighting. Following consultation with stakeholders, steps will be taken to consolidate current legislation and to introduce new powers and penalties to deal with new types of offences.

Antisocial Behaviour

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) interim and (b) full antisocial behaviour orders have been made in each Police Service of Northern Ireland district command unit since their introduction in Northern Ireland.

David Hanson: The relevant authorities have notified the Northern Ireland Office of two antisocial behaviour orders in Larne district council area, one interim antisocial behaviour order in Belfast city council area, two interim antisocial behaviour orders in Coleraine borough council area, one antisocial behaviour order on conviction in Dungannon district council area, and one interim antisocial behaviour order in Magherafelt district council area. The NIO does not collect data by police DCU.

Bovine Tuberculosis

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 9 January 2006, to question 39669, on bovine tuberculosis, what compensation package is available for farmers who have cattle diagnosed as positive when tested for bovine tuberculosis; and what impact this has on their ability to move cattle (a) within the country, (b) to the mainland and (c) to the Republic of Ireland.

Angela Smith: Under the Tuberculosis Control Order (Northern Ireland) 1999 (as amended), where the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) causes an animal to be slaughtered as a reactor the compensation payable by DARD for the animal is the market value of the animal. The market value is defined by the legislation as the price which might reasonably have been obtained for it at the time of valuation from a purchaser in the market if it had been free from disease.
	In relation to the impact on movement of cattle, where TB is identified in a herd in Northern Ireland the movement of animals out of the herd is prohibited except to slaughter. Also, subject to the veterinary assessment the movement of animals onto the farm may be prohibited.
	Only cattle from officially TB free herds are allowed to be moved to Great Britain and cattle from herds restricted for TB are not eligible to move there.
	In accordance with the relevant EU rules (Council Directive 64/432/EEC), only cattle from officially TB free herds can be exported to the Republic of Ireland, and other member states. However, at present, live cattle cannot be exported from the UK due to BSE restrictions.

Bulimia/Anorexia

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many specialist staff are available for the treatment of bulimia and anorexia in Northern Ireland; what facilities are available; and if he will make a statement.

Shaun Woodward: Community-based specialist eating disorders teams, which will be managed within a regional care network, are currently being established in South and East Belfast Health and Social Services (HSS) Trust, Causeway HSS Trust, Craigavon HSS Trust and Foyle HSS Trust. Nine appointments have been made and it is expected that the remaining 11 will be made by end of May.

Departmental Jobs (Regional Distribution)

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many and what percentage of jobs in (a) his Department and (b) each (i) non-departmental public body, (ii) executive agency and (iii) public body for which his Department is responsible are located in (A) each English region, (B) Northern Ireland and (C) overseas.

Shaun Woodward: The information is as follows.
	
		(a) Northern Ireland Office
		
			 Core and legal staff Number of staff Northern Ireland London Northern Ireland percentage London percentage 
		
		
			 NIO Core 763 673 90 88 12 
			 Public Prosecution Service 348 348 0 100 0 
			 Crown Solicitor's Office 74 74 0 100 0 
		
	
	This figure excludes temporary staff.
	
		(B)(i)Non-departmental public bodies
		
			 Name Number of staff. Northern Ireland London Northern Ireland Percentage London Percentage 
		
		
			 Equality Commission for NI 143 143 0 100 0 
			 Criminal Justice Inspection NI 15 15 0 100 0 
			 Office of the Justice Oversight Commissioner 3 3 0 100 0 
			 NI Human Rights Commission 16 16 0 100 0 
			 NI Memorial Fund 3 3 0 100 0 
			 NI Policing Board 51 51 0 100 0 
			 RUC George Cross Foundation 2 2 0 100 0 
			 Office of the Policing Oversight Commissioner 4 4 0 100 0 
			 Office of the Police Ombudsman 128 128 0 0 0 
			 Probation Board for NI 294 294 0 100 0 
			 Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeal Panel for NI 7 7 0 100 0 
			 Boundary Commission for NI 3 3 0 100 0 
			 Independent Assessor of Military Complaints Procedures 1 1 0 100 0 
			 Independent Commissioner for Detained Terrorist Suspects 1 1 0 100 0 
			 Parades Commission for NI 12 12 0 100 0 
		
	
	
		(B)(ii)Executive Agencies
		
			 Name Number of staff Northern Ireland London Northern Ireland Percentage London Percentage 
		
		
			 Compensation Agency 123 123 0 100 0 
			 Forensic Science NI 181 181 0 100 0 
			 Youth Justice Agency 70 70 0 100 0 
			 Northern Ireland Prison Staff (Prison Grades) 1627.5 1627.5 0 100 0 
			 Northern Ireland Prison Staff (Caterers, cleaners etc) 70.5 70.5 0 100 0 
			 Northern Ireland Prison Staff (Administration Staff) 350 350 0 100 0 
		
	
	
		(B)(iii)Other public bodies
		
			 Name Number of staff Northern Ireland London Northern Ireland percentage London percentage 
		
		
			 Chief Electoral Office 46 46 0 100 0

Disabled Parking

Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much revenue was collected through fines incurred by (a) parking in a disabled person's parking space and (b) the wrongful use of a disabled person's badge in Northern Ireland in 200405.

Shaun Woodward: The following table provides details of the amount of revenue collected through fines issued by police and traffic wardens for disabled parking offences in 200405.
	
		
		
			 Type of offence 2004 2005 
		
		
			 Illegal parking in a disabled person's bay 53,520.00 52,770.00 
			 Wrongful use of a disabled person's badge 270.00 330.00

Executive Programme Funds

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will reinstate the Executive Programme funds which were abolished by the Direct Rule administration in 2002; and if he will make a statement.

Angela Smith: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave on 23 November 2005, Official Report, column 1980W.

Gabion Wall (Killyleagh)

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State forNorthern Ireland if he will make a statement on progress on reaching a decision on the Gabion wall at Killyleagh.

Angela Smith: The Planning Service remains committed to pursuing the necessary actions to ensure a satisfactory resolution to this matter.
	An Enforcement Order, requiring the removal of the unauthorised wall, was served on 2 August 2005. The applicant lodged an appeal against the enforcement notice, and the Planning Appeals Commission is expected to set a date for the hearing in due course.
	Separately, consideration of the current planning application is continuing and additional information has been requested from the agent.
	These parallel processes will continue to be pursued until a satisfactory outcome is achieved.

Hip Replacements

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the waiting time was for hip replacements in each health board area in Northern Ireland on the last date for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Shaun Woodward: The number of patients waiting for a hip replacement in each Health and Social Services Board area in Northern Ireland at 31 December 2005 by length of time waiting is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Number waiting 
			  Less than 6 months 612 months 1217 months Total 
		
		
			 Eastern 250 193 3 446 
			 Northern 185 132 12 329 
			 Southern 104 81 4 189 
			 Western 140 90 16 246 
			 Northern Ireland 679 496 35 1,210 
		
	
	Source:
	Altnagelvin Group and Green Park Healthcare HSS Trusts.
	In July I announced a target to ensure that no-one is waiting more than nine months for hip replacement surgery by March 2006. The Department of Health is working very closely with Trusts to ensure that this target is achieved through further increases in hospital activity and use of the independent sector.

Hospital Beds

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many single rooms are provided to patients at each hospital in the Province.

Shaun Woodward: The number of single rooms available to patients at each hospital in Northern Ireland is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Hospital Single rooms available 
		
		
			 Altnagelvin Area(11) (12)100 
			 Longstone 31 
			 Mullinure 4 
			 Oaklands 1 
			 St. Lukes 30 
			 Belfast City 103 
			 Belvoir Park NICCO 20 
			 Causeway 59 
			 Dalriada 16 
			 Robinson Memorial 8 
			 Banbridge 0 
			 Craigavon Area 122 
			 Lurgan 9 
			 South Tyrone 8 
			 Craigavon PNU 17 
			 Downe 6 
			 Downshire 11 
			 Lagan Valley 33 
			 Lagan Valley PNU 10 
			 Thompson House 4 
			 Gransha 24 
			 Lakeview 33 
			 Waterside 17 
			 Forest Lodge 0 
			 Foster Green 24 
			 Musgrave Park 39 
			 Holywell 66 
			 Whiteabbey PNU 2 
			 Mater Infirmorum 69 
			 Daisy Hill 47 
			 Muckamore Abbey 61 
			 RBHSC 42 
			 Royal Maternity 21 
			 Royal Victoria 216 
			 Knockbracken 88 
			 Shaftesbury Square 0 
			 Young Peoples Centre 8 
			 Erne 31 
			 Tyrone and Fermanagh 33 
			 Tyrone County 15 
			 Ards 15 
			 Bangor 2 
			 Ulster 102 
			 Antrim 52 
			 Braid Valley 10 
			 Mid Ulster 15 
			 Moyle 12 
			 Whiteabbey 33 
			 Total 1,669 
		
	
	(11) Altnagelvin Area Hospital figures include figures for Altnagelvin, Windsor House, Spruce House and Waterside Hospitals.
	(12) Approximately.
	Source:
	Northern Ireland HSS Trusts.

Illegal Waste

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many prosecutions have been initiated against the illegal dumping of waste originating from the Republic of Ireland in each of the last five years; and how many of those prosecutions have been successful.

Angela Smith: The Environment and Heritage Service [EHS] acquired powers for prosecution in December 2002; EHS does not hold figures for 2001 and 2002 when district councils were the regulators. With regard to cases of illegal dumping of waste from ROL in 2003seven prosecutions were initiated; in 200412 prosecutions were initiated and in 200511 prosecutions were initiated. To date, eight successful prosecutions have been completed with fines totalling 33,070 plus costs imposed.
	A further 16 cases are pending submission to the Public Prosecution Service.

Illegal Waste

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many illegal landfill sites with waste from the Republic of Ireland have been detected in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Angela Smith: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the response given to the hon. Member for East Antrim on Friday 28 October 2005, Official Report, column 650W. Since that date, an additional site of significance has been detected and will be subject to prosecution. Four others are also under investigation.

Medical Treatment

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many patients in Northern Ireland had to travel to other parts of the UK or further afield to receive treatment on the NHS in each of the last five years; which procedures such patients received; what the cost of such treatment has been over the last five years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Shaun Woodward: The table sets out details of the number of patients who had treatment outside Northern Ireland as part of waiting list initiatives in each of the last five years; the specialties concerned; and the resultant costs.
	
		
			  Procedures Number of patients treated elsewhere in UK or further afield Cost () 
		
		
			 200001 Cardiac Surgery, MRI, Orthopaedic Surgery 208 1,042,749 
			 200102 Cardiac Surgery, MRI, Orthopaedic Surgery 1,467 2,724,418 
			 200203 Cardiac Surgery, General Surgery, Orthopaedic Surgery 457 4,607,826 
			 200304 Cardiac Surgery, MRI, Neurosurgery, Orthopaedic Surgery 388 5,287,420 
			 200405 Cardiac Surgery, Cardiology, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedic Surgery, Plastic Surgery 407 4,152,632 
			 Total  2,927 17,815,045 
		
	
	I have set targets for this year to ensure that no-one is waiting more than 12 months for in-patient or day case treatment by March 2006, with shorter waiting times for cardiac surgery (six months), cataract surgery (six months), and major joint replacement (nine months). This is just a first step, and waiting times must be further reduced over the coming years.
	In bringing about these improvements, I have introduced an Alternative Offer Scheme whereby patients will be made an offer of treatment by an alternative provider, including outside Northern Ireland where necessary. While every effort is made to treat people at their local hospital, where this is not possible I believe it is more important to get people the treatment they require and end the anxiety and frustration caused by long waiting times.

Review of Public Administration

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions his Department has had with representatives of the Irish government since the publication of the Review of Public Administration on 22 November 2005.

Angela Smith: There have been no discussions with representatives of the Irish Government since the publication of the Review of Public Administration on 22 November 2005.

Review of Public Administration

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions have been held between (a) the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland and (b) the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Ministers in the Northern Ireland Office and the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Dublin and officials on the Review of Public Administration.

Angela Smith: There has been no discussion at Prime Minister/Taoiseach level. However, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and Dermot Ahern discussed the review of RPA briefly at a stocktake meeting held in Hillsborough on 14 November.

Statutory Off Road Notices

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many motorists in Northern Ireland should have completed the Statutory Off Road Notice during 2005, but did not; and how many were subsequently prosecuted.

Angela Smith: Figures for Statutory Off the Road Notification (SORN) are not recorded separately but incorporated into a range of offences under the Continuous Registration Regulations. For the calendar year ended 31 December 2005, 60,779 out of court settlement offers were issued to vehicle keepers who had failed to comply with Continuous Registration Regulations. Of those who did not respond to the offer 146 have been prosecuted.

Unauthorised Encampments

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the implementation of the Unauthorised Encampments (Northern Ireland) Order 2005.

David Hanson: The Unauthorised Encampments (Northern Ireland) Order 2005, was made at Privy Council on 19 July 2005. However, as the order cannot be fully effective until sufficient sites for Travellers are available, I have decided to defer bringing the substantive provisions of the order into effect until I am satisfied that an adequate number of transit sites is operational in Northern Ireland.
	Responsibility for providing such sites falls to the Housing Executive and I am pressing it to ensure the necessary sites are available as soon as possible. I anticipate that five sites will be operational by the summer by which time I will review the situation with a view to enabling the necessary provisions. I believe this represents a fair and balanced approach.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Public Order

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders have been issued by courts in Coventry, South since the penalty was introduced; and how many have been breached.

Hazel Blears: Data held centrally on the number of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) issued by court in Coventry are only available for the whole of the city by type of court.
	From commencement up to 31 May 2000 data were collected on aggregate numbers only by police force area. Since 1 June 2000 up to 30 June 2005 (latest available) the number of ASBOs issued at all courts in Coventry, as reported to the Home Office, is 64.
	The Home Office Court Proceedings Database holds breach proceedings only where there has been a conviction and are available at Criminal Justice System area level only. ASBO breach data are currently available from 1 June 2000 to 31 December 2003 for ASBOs issued since one June 2000. During this period, of those ASBOs issued in the West Midlands, 81 were breached on one or more occasions.

Public Order

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many antisocial behaviour orders have been issued by courts in (a) North East Lincolnshire and (b) North Lincolnshire in each quarter since the penalty was introduced;
	(2)  what percentage of antisocial behaviour orders issued in (a) North East Lincolnshire and (b) North Lincolnshire have been issued to people under the age of 21.

Hazel Blears: The available information is given in the table.
	
		Number of antisocial behaviour orders issued by the courts, as reported to the Home Office where restrictions are imposed within North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire local government authority areas, by period and age, 1 June 2000(13)(5508630014) to 30 June 2005 (latest available)
		
			  North East Lincolnshire council 
			  Age 1020 Age 21 and over Total Percentage under age 21 
		
		
			 July-September 2000 
			 October-December 2000 
			 January-March 2001 
			 April-June 2001 
			 July-September 2001 
			 October-December 2001 
			 January-March 2002 
			 April-June 2002 
			 July-September 2002 
			 October-December 2002 
			 January-March 2003 
			 April-June 2003 
			 July-September 2003 
			 October-December 2003 1  1 100 
			 January-March 2004 
			 April-June 2004 3  3 100 
			 July-September 2004 4 3 7 57 
			 October-December 2004 1 2 3 33 
			 January-March 2005 5 6 11 45 
			 AprilJune 2005 7 3 10 70 
			 Total 21 14 35 60 
		
	
	
		
			  North Lincolnshire council 
			  Age 1020 Age 21 and over Total Percentage under age 21 
		
		
			 July-September 2000 
			 October-December 2000 
			 January-March 2001  1 1 0 
			 April-June 2001 
			 July-September 2001 
			 October-December 2001 
			 January-March 2002 
			 April-June 2002 1  1 100 
			 July-September 2002 
			 October-December 2002 
			 January-March 2003 
			 April-June 2003  1 1 0 
			 July-September 2003 
			 October-December 2003 
			 January-March 2004 
			 April-June 2004 
			 July-September 2004 4  4 100 
			 October-December 2004 5 2 7 71 
			 January-March 2005 3 1 4 75 
			 AprilJune 2005 5 3 8 63 
			 Total 18 8 26 69 
		
	
	(13) Between 1 April 199931 May 2000 data were collected on aggregate numbers only by police force area (pfa). During this period no ASBOs were issued, as reported, within Humberside pfa (in which the North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire local government authority areas are located).
	(14) As from 1 June 2000 data collected centrally by magistrates courts committee (MCC) area by quarter. For the month of June 2000 no ASBOS were reported as being issued.

Public Order

Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in (a) Derbyshire and (b) Amber Valley have entered into acceptable behaviour contracts since their introduction.

Hazel Blears: The number of acceptable behaviour contracts (ABCs) made in Derbyshire and the Amber Valley is not known as this information is not collected centrally. ABCs are voluntary agreements with no statutory basis and can be entered into by various local services such as local authority social services or housing departments, youth inclusion and support panels or the police. They are therefore unsuitable for central data collection.
	A recent survey carried out by the Home Office and sent to all crime and disorder reduction partnerships estimated that over 13,000 ABCs were issued between October 2003 and September 2005.

Asylum Seekers

Robert Marshall-Andrews: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many failed asylum seekers were held in custody at the latest date for which figures are available; and how many were families with children below the age of 18.

Tony McNulty: Information on the number of persons detained solely under Immigration Act powers is available from a snapshot taken on the last Saturday of the quarter and is published in the Quarterly Asylum Statistics publications.
	This information is available on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html

Asylum Seekers

Neil Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women are detained under Immigration Act powers; and how many of them are known to be pregnant.

Tony McNulty: Pregnant women are not normally considered for detention under the Immigration Acts unless there is a clear prospect of early removal from the United Kingdom and medical advice suggests no question of confinement prior to this. In addition, women in the early stages of pregnancy may be detained briefly at Oakington Reception Centre as part of the fast-track asylum process and Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre.
	The latest available information on persons detained solely under Immigration Act powers relates to 24 September 2005. As at that date, there were less than five women in detention who were known to be pregnant, all of whom were at the Yarl's Wood immigration Removal Centre.
	Information on the number of persons detained, as at 24 September 2005 are published in the Quarterly Asylum Bulletin, on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html

Automatic Number Plate Recognition

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the purposes for which his Department uses automatic number plate recognition; and how many convictions have resulted from its use in each of the last five years.

Hazel Blears: The Home Office is developing automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) to target terrorism, serious and organised crime and 'volume' crimes such as burglary and theft of, and from, vehicles. Evaluation of the technology, which is currently being used by all 43 forces in England and Wales, shows that officers engaged in ANPR operations made over nine times more arrests and brought, on average, three times more offences to justice than general patrol officers.
	This facility will enable the Police and intelligence services to track vehicle movements throughout the United Kingdom, specifically for the purposes of detection and preventing of serious crime.
	The number of convictions resulting from the use of ANPR in the last five years is not collected centrally, however police forces that have participated in the three stages of the ANPR pilot have recorded nearly 30,000 arrests in a 32 month period.

Burglar Alarms

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had regarding the provision of burglar alarms to the elderly at a reduced cost.

Hazel Blears: I have had no specific discussions on this issue. Decisions about funding interventions that help reduce crime and the fear of crime such as such as the provision of burglar alarms are taken by crime and disorder reduction partnerships (CDRPs) in the light of local assessments of priorities.
	During 200506, CDRPs have received 74 million in funding for crime reduction and community safety programmes through the Building Safer Communities Fund (BSCF). This has been the primary source of funding to CDRPs for a number of interventions, including amongst others, tackling burglary and vehicle crime, violent crime, drug-related crime and youth crime.
	In addition, we have provided 50 million for police Basic Command Unit Commanders to allow them to work with CDRPs on complementary crime prevention initiatives.

Closing the Gap

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he received a draft copy of the document Closing the Gap before 13 September 2005.

Hazel Blears: The report was published on 16 September 2005. Ministers and officials had been briefed on the report prior to that date.

Community Safety Partnerships

David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what mechanisms he has put in place for the monitoring of community safety partnerships.

Hazel Blears: The Home Office has in place performance management arrangements to ensure the effectiveness of Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) in Wales and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) in England.
	Under these arrangements challenging targets for crime reduction have been agreed with each CSP and CDRP and progress against them is regularly monitored. Under-performing partnerships are offered support and assistance to improve delivery. Our approach to performance management is to work with local partners to bring the performance of all CSPs and CDRPs, to the level of the best.

Consultants/Special Advisers

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) consultants and (b) special advisers were employed by his Department in each year since 1997; what the cost of each was in each year; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Clarke: Information on individual consultants employed by the Department is not held centrally and to obtain this information would incur disproportionate cost.
	The information held by the Home Office on its spend on consultants is as follows:
	We do not hold information on the Department's total expenditure on consultants for 200203 and to obtain this information would incur disproportionate cost.
	The best information available for the financial year 200304 from interrogation of the Business and Accounting Strategic System (BASS), indicates that the cost of external consultants to the department in 200304 was 106.8 million.
	The best information available for the financial year 200405 from the interrogation of the Adelphi Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system Accounts Payable Module indicates that the cost of external consultants to the department was 46.9 million.
	The Department awards contracts in open competition according to the EU procurement regulations based on best value for money. The use of external consultants in the Home Office provides the Department with specialist knowledge, skill, capacity and technical expertise that is not otherwise available in house.
	Since 2003, the Government have published on an annual basis the names and overall cost of special advisers and the number in each pay band. For the most recent information I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister on 21 July 2006, Official Report, Columns 158162WS. Information on the numbers of special advisers prior to 2003 was provided at regular intervals and this information will be available in the Library of the House.
	
		
			   
		
		
			 199798 7,627,016 
			 199899 4,588,445 
			 19992000 10,302,672 
			 200001 27,877,286 
			 200102 21,147,058 
			 200203 (15) 
			 200304 106,800,000 
			 200405 46,900,000 
		
	
	(15) Not held.

Correspondence

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to improve the Department's performance in replying to correspondence from members of the public.

Charles Clarke: Every effort is made to handle all correspondence effectively and efficiently. All correspondence from hon. Members and Peers is handled in accordance with the principles set out in 'Handling Correspondence from Members of Parliament, Members of the House of Lords, MEPs and Members of Devolved Assemblies: Guidance for Departments'. The same principles apply when handling correspondence from members of the public.
	The department aims to respond to correspondence from the public within 20 working days. The Home Office responded to 92 per cent. of 9,788 items of centrally received public correspondence received in the period June to September of this year within target. Not all correspondence received from the public is tracked, for example correspondence relating to casework is not monitored.
	A number of initiatives are in place to encourage improved correspondence performance:
	the development of factsheets
	promotion of the use of centralised drafting facilities
	forums for the sharing of good practice
	relevant training is available in subjects including the use of Plain English
	Management information is gathered across the group and used to monitor performance and focus attention on areas where improvements are required.
	The computerised correspondence tracking system has now been operational since 2003. The department has reviewed processes for the handling of correspondence and introduced measures that mean cases reach the appropriate drafting officer promptly.

Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter dated 28 November 2005 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Miss Sabrina Williams.

Charles Clarke: Baroness Scotland replied to my right hon. Friend's letter as duty Minister on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Home Department on 9 January.

Crime Statistics

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many persons convicted of (a) murder and (b) manslaughter in England and Wales were subsequently (i) charged with and (ii) convicted of murder or manslaughter following their release on licence in 2004.

Hazel Blears: In 2004, there were two persons in England and Wales known to have been killed by persons who had been previously convicted of homicide in England and Wales.

Crime Statistics

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were (a) arrested for and (b) charged with a recordable offence in each year since 1995.

Hazel Blears: Statistics are collected on arrests for recorded crime (notifiable offences) by offence group, age, gender and ethnicity. Data available on the number of persons arrested for a notifiable offence can be found in Table AA of the HOSB Arrests for Recorded crime (notifiable offences) and the Operation of Certain Powers under PACE, http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/hosb2105.pdf
	Information prior to 19992000 is not available.
	The statistics do not record what action followed the arrest and would only include arrests for a recordable offence if the offence was both recordable (on the Police National Computer) and notifiable to the Home Office. No separate statistics are collected by the Home Office on persons charged.

Criminal Records Checks

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the (a) average and (b) longest time taken was for Criminal Records Bureau checks to be made when a doctor in training changed (i) rotation and (ii) NHS trust in the last period for which figures are available.

Andy Burnham: Information is not available to answer the hon. Gentleman's question; such data are not collated centrally by the Criminal Records Bureau.

Departmental Correspondence

Gavin Strang: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much departmental correspondence was addressed to people who had (a) died and (b) moved house in each of the last five years.

Charles Clarke: This information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Resources

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the real terms percentage increase in allocated resources for his Department (a) was for the period 199798 to 200405 and (b) is estimated to be between 200506 and 200708 (i) for each period and (ii) for each year.

Charles Clarke: The real terms increase in allocated resources 1 for each period and year are shown in the following table:
	1 Allocated resources for 199798 and 199899 are based on the old system of cash accounting which was replaced by resource accounting in 19992000. From 19992000 onwards, the total allocated resources shown are the current and capital elements of the department's departmental expenditure limit (DEL).
	
		
			 Period  Total (stated in 200405 values) 000 Year on year real terms increase (percentage) Period increase in real terms (percentage) 
		
		
			 1 199798 7,906,545   
			  199899 8,367,815 5.83  
			  19992000 8,780,662 4.93 200405 total is 64.69 higher than 199798 total 
			  200001 10,211,327 16.29  
			  200102 12,009,479 17.61  
			  200203 12,425,142 3.46  
			  200304 12,877,937 3.64  
			  200405 13,021,404 1.11  
			   
			 2 200506 13,565,023 4.17 200708 total is 4.21 higher than 200506 total 
			  200607 13,804,366 1.76  
			  200708 14,136,242 2.40

Equality Bill

Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what criteria were used to make the decision (a) to grant an exception from the religious discrimination provisions in clause 47 of the Equality Bill to landlords who let part of a house in which they live and (b) not to grant an exception from clause 46 to owners of bed and breakfast accommodation who rent out part of a house in which they live.

Paul Goggins: There is a fundamental difference between someone who rents out a room in their own home and someone who provides a bed and breakfast service to the general public.
	When a person rents a room in a house the arrangement is usually of a long-term nature and involves the paying of rent on a weekly or monthly basis. The person renting the room becomes a tenant and the house becomes their home, As a tenant they are entitled to certain legal rights of occupancy and it will be classed as their residence for the purposes of, for example, the census and electoral register. Such arrangements may involve a close relationship between the landlord and tenant. For example, they may include sharing washing and cooking facilities as well as other communal areas in the house. We believe it is right that when someone offers to take someone into their home on this basis that they should be allowed to discriminate on who they accept as tenants. That is why we have provided an exemption for the letting out of rooms in small dwellings at clause 48 of the Equality Bill.
	The situation with bed and breakfast accommodation is different. This involves a service that is provided to the general public on a commercial basis. People often stay in bed and breakfast accommodation for only a brief period of time and the service is often paid for on a daily basis. The person staying in such accommodation does not become a tenant and has no legal rights of occupancy. We do not believe that there is any justification for an owner of a bed and breakfast to discriminate on the grounds of religion or belief in the way they provide their services. Clause 46 of the Equality Bill would not make it unlawful to provide a service which reflected the religious beliefs of the owner, for example, to offer a Christian bed and breakfast service where grace was said at mealtimes or where rooms included objects associated with the Christian faith.

Humberside Police

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average response time to an emergency call to the police was in Humberside in each year since 1997.

Hazel Blears: Data on time taken to respond to emergency calls are not collected centrally. This is essentially an operational matter for the chief constable and this query could therefore be directed to Humberside Police.

Identity Cards

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which public sector body will levy the proposed fines outlined in the planned identity card scheme.

Andy Burnham: Fines will be levied under the proposed Identity Cards Scheme in connection with the criminal offences of possession of false identity documents, tampering with the Register, provision of false information and unauthorised disclosure of information from the Register which the Bill introduces. These will be levied by the Courts on conviction in the usual way.
	The Scheme will set up a system of civil penalties, which are not fines, for failure to register when the scheme is compulsory, failure to renew ID cards when the scheme is compulsory and failure to notify changes affecting accuracy of the Register. This will be administered by the Secretary of State by means of the new executive agency which will be responsible for issuing identity cards and passports.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate  (Correspondence)

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to improve the Immigration and Nationality Directorate's performance in replying to correspondence from (a) members of the general public and (b) hon. Members; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) receives well over 1 million pieces of correspondence each year. The IND's policy is to acknowledge the receipt of all immigration, asylum, asylum support and citizenship applications either by sending a letter or issuing a form.
	Other casework-related correspondence is not at present routinely acknowledged.
	Our published target is to reply to 95 per cent. of correspondenceincluding Members' letterswithin 20 working days. Some of the IND's business areas already achieve this target but we are considering how to meet it more consistently across all areas without adversely affecting decision-making capability. Our strategy to achieve that, however, cannot simply focus on answering letters more quickly. We must also improve the way we communicate with Members and constituents so that they do not feel compelled to write so often. I shall shortly be writing to all Members setting out how we intend to move forward on this.

Intercept Evidence

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with (a) police chief constables and (b) the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis about using intercept evidence in court; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Clarke: I have not discussed the matter personally with police Chief Constables or the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis nor have they sought to raise it with me. However, I am kept well informed of police views through the discussions officials regularly have with the police and others on this issue.

LT 12020 Speed Measuring Device

Robert Marshall-Andrews: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the accuracy of the LT 12020 speed measuring device.

Paul Goggins: All speed measuring devices type approved for use by the police, including the LT 12020, are subject to laboratory and field testing before they receive type approval. I am satisfied as to the accuracy and reliability of the LT 12020.

Metropolitan Police Act

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) males and (b) females were (i) prosecuted and (ii) convicted during 2004 of an offence under paragraph 10 of section 54 of the Metropolitan Police Act 1839.

Hazel Blears: Persons proceeded against and found guilty at the magistrates courts of offences under section 54(10) of the Metropolitan Police Act 1839 cannot be separately identified on the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform as they form part of a miscellaneous group which cannot be analysed.

Misuse of Drugs Advisory Committee

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many scientists who have conducted research into the association between drug misuse and mental illness (a) serve and (b) have served since 1997 on the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs.

Paul Goggins: Under the terms of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, the membership of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs must include representatives of the practices of medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine and pharmacy, the pharmaceutical industry and chemistry other than the pharmaceutical industry and people who have a wide range of experience of social problems connected with the misuse of drugs.
	There are four present members and six past members (who were members since 1997, including two members that retired from the Advisory Council at the end of 2005) who have conducted research into drug misuse and mental illness. The Advisory Council's committees and working groups also include co-opted members, some of whom have also conducted research in this area.

Mobile Phone Location Data

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what use the police made of public mobile communications networks during the response operation to the incidents on the London underground and bus network on 7 July 2005.

Hazel Blears: The primary method of communication for the police are secure radio systems. Individual officers do make use of mobile telephones for communication both to other officers and to outside agencies, but emergency plans are designed around the use of radios. As part of the Government's lessons learned exercise we are reviewing the communication by emergency responders, Government and others on 7 July.

Mobile Phone Location Data

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many instances there have been of the police using data from UK mobile phone operators to locate a missing person.

Hazel Blears: This information is not centrally held.

Motoring Offences

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many motorists stopped for breaking the speed limit in (a) Tamworth, (b) Staffordshire and (c) England and Wales received a (i) warning and (ii) caution in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Paul Goggins: The annual Home Office publication 'Offences relating to motor vehicles, England and Wales, Supplementary tables' 1999 to 2003 (latest available), Table 18 gives data by police force area on written warnings (which includes formal cautions) issued by motoring offence groups. Copies of the above publications are available in the Library. The publications can also be accessed on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics (RDS) website at: www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/index.htm
	It is not possible from the data collected centrally to identify Tamworth within the geographical area covered by the Staffordshire police force. 2004 data will be available at the end of March 2006.

Offender Rehabilitation

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what non-charitable premises are available in (a) Ruislip-Northwood constituency and (b) the London borough of Hillingdon for the provision of (i) treatment testing and (ii) rehabilitation of offenders by his Department.

Fiona Mactaggart: The non-charitable premises available for the provision of drug treatment and testing and the rehabilitation of offenders residing in the London borough of Hillingdon, including those living in the Ruislip-Northwood constituency, are as set out in the following table:
	
		
			 Name of provider Address of premises Description of what is delivered at premises 
		
		
			 DRR/DTTO Probation Team Uxbridge Probation Office The Court House Harefield Road Uxbridge Middlesex UB8 1PQ Supervision of offenders on drug treatment and testing orders (DTTOs) and drug rehabilitation requirements (DRRs) of the community order who have not been designated as prolific and other priority offenders (PPOs) 
			 PPO team Main address: Uxbridge Probation Office The Court House Harefield Road Uxbridge Middlesex UB8 1PQ Supervision of offenders on DTTOs/DRRs who have been designated as PPOs. Drug testing of PPOs on licence, which is in the process of being implemented across the borough 
			 Criminal Justice Interventions Team (CJIT) Old Bank House 64 High Street Uxbridge Middlesex UB8 1JP Assessments, drug treatment and/or testing as part of the arrest referral scheme in Hillingdon, DTTOs/DRRs, as part of the CARATs service and for PPOs 
			 Probation staff from the Offender Programme Unit, Hendon Probation Office Harrow Probation Office Rosslyn Crescent Harrow Middlesex Addressing substance related offending (ASRO), a substance misuse accredited offending behaviour programme, to offenders on DTTOs/DRRs or as a stand-alone requirement of a community order where no other drug work is being undertaken 
			 Hillingdon Drug and Alcohol Service (HDAS) Old Bank House 64 High Street Uxbridge Middlesex UB8 1JP Treatment of drug interventions programme (DIP) clients transferred from CJIT after 1216 weeks and prescribing and assessments for residential rehab./detoxification for young offenders 
			 Hillingdon Youth Offending Service Darren House 65 High Street Uxbridge Middlesex UB8 1LQ Supervision of young offenders, assessment and delivery of interventions e.g. targeted educational programme or counselling through substance misuse worker 
			 Sorted Sterling House 276a High Street Uxbridge Middlesex UB8 1LQ Provision of tier 23 treatment e.g. counselling to young offenders

Operation Crackdown

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether there are plans to repeat Operation Crackdown in 2006; and if he will make a statement on the Government's plans to reduce the supply of Class A drugs in the UK.

Paul Goggins: The objective of our National Strategy is to have a sustained impact on the supply of Class A drugs to the UK and availability within its communities.
	While there are no immediate plans to repeat Operation Crackdown in 2006, we are bearing down on each part of the supply chain, both in this country and overseas, and have put in place strong powers to seize the assets of drug dealers, and strengthened the ability to bring dealers to justice, through the Drug Act 2005.
	Operation Crackdown, the concerted campaign by 33 police forces in England and Wales between January and March 2005 achieved its objective of promoting the use of powers to close crack houses and these powers continue to be widely used by the police.

Parenting Programmes

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what mechanisms are to be put in place to ensure that there is a lead organisation in every locality to deal with the most challenging families; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: The Respect Action Plan sets out the Government's plans for tackling the most challenging families. Initially the lead will be achieved by a dedicated Family Support Project which will be created in areas where they are needed. These projects assign a key worker to each family who coordinates the range of services and agencies that are involved with the household. Over time the effective approaches from these projects need to be mainstreamed and a local body (such as the crime and disorder reduction partnership) made clearly accountable for leading the local response to the most challenging households.

Police

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the likely cost of the proposed police force restructuring (a) in England and Wales and (b) in Gloucestershire.

Hazel Blears: The business cases submitted by forces and authorities include information on financing and costs. The Home Office has provided considerable advice and guidance, including involving the independent Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) to ensure that this financial information is provided on a consistent and equal basis.
	A variety of estimates of costs of change have been advanced which are progressively being refined as business cases are analysed.
	The Home Office has established a finance working group with the policing community and other Government Departments to take forward work on financial issues arising from restructuring.

Police

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the police force restructuring will be funded.

Hazel Blears: I have decided to set aside 50 million of police capital funding for 200607 and up to a maximum of 75 million of police capital funding for 200708 to support authorities and forces committing to early i.e. voluntary mergers and will consider applying this to authorities and forces which I decide can deliver acceptable levels of protective services if they remain stand-alone, since they too will need to reconfigure their organisations to achieve this.

Police

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the financial payback period for the police force restructuring.

Hazel Blears: The business cases submitted by forces and authorities include information on financing and costs. The Home Office has provided considerable advice and guidance, including involving the independent Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) to ensure that this financial information is provided on a consistent and equal basis.
	There are a variety of estimates of the financial payback period identified in business cases, which are being progressively refined, and this quality assurance will form a central part of the analysis produced by the Home Office.

Police

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what guidance his Department has issued to chief constables on the distribution of (a) police officers and (b) resources.

Hazel Blears: It is an operational matter for the chief constable of each area to decide how he or she wishes to deploy the available resources to best serve their communities. However, in doing so, chief constables must take account of nationally set targets on reduction of crime and service delivery.
	We are introducing national standards setting out the quality of service which members of the public can expect whenever they have contact with the police. Public satisfaction with the police has now become a part of how police performance is measured.
	We will give individuals and communities a voice in determining local policing priorities, engage communities in finding solutions to problems, and, where people are dissatisfied with the response to persistent problems, they will be able to secure a response from councils and the police. We want people to know who their local police officers are, and how to contact them. I have also pointed to the fact that every area will have a dedicated neighbourhood policing team by 2008.
	It is also the case that some resources are allocated directly to the local level, for example the BCU Fund, worth 50 million in 200506. This is aimed at BCU Commanders and is intended to help the police play a full and active role in the delivery of crime and disorder reduction partnership strategies. BCU Commanders may spend the money on a wide range of crime and disorder interventions, including target hardening activity focusing on repeat victims, tackling antisocial behaviour through interventions such as pub watch schemes, youth inclusion work including support programmes for young people and CCTV. The interventions might also include anti-drugs work.

Police

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the conclusions of the Walsh Group evaluation in November 2003 in relation to the drug testing equipment supplied to the police by Cozart Bioscience Ltd.

Paul Goggins: The Department received the research report An Evaluation of Oral Fluid Point of Collection Testing Devices by the Walsh Group (November 2003) which assessed the accuracy of drug testing equipment supplied by a range of manufacturers, including that supplied by Cozart Bioscience Ltd. to the police under contract from the Department. This report initially indicated that the Cozart equipment was not accurate.
	However, the authors of this report published an erratum in the July/August 2004 edition of the Journal of Analytical Toxicology where they stated errors in the reporting of opiates and cocaine results arising from the Cozart technology. Separate studies undertaken by the National Institute of Drug Abuse in the USA indicate that the Cozart technology is accurate.

Police

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers were (a) accused of, (b) arrested for and (c) charged with corruption-related offences in each year since 2000.

Hazel Blears: The level of detail in the information you require is not held centrally and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost. However, more generalised information on police complaints and discipline can be found in Home Office Statistical Bulletins on the Home Office website (www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs04/hosb1704.pdf)

Police

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what estimate his Department has made of the costs of the initial study into police force mergers undertaken by the Police Information Technology Organisation;
	(2)  what estimate his Department has made of the costs of implementing new IT systems arising from the options under consideration for the merger of police forces (a) within the East of England region and (b) in each of the other regions.

Hazel Blears: A study initiated and sponsored by the Police Information Technology Organisation commenced in November 2005 to examine the impact on IT of potential mergers within the eastern region. The original estimate for the cost of the study was 110,000 and funding has been capped at 120,000. The study is due to be completed at the end of January with the findings expected to be reviewed, approved and published in February 2006.
	As part of the work flowing from the recent report on police structures Closing the Gap which was published by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, the Home Office is examining the matter of cost of implementation of force restructuring on police IT and the eastern region study will assist in that evaluation.

Police

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will amend the guidance given to police officers in relation to the shooting of animals being kept in captivity under licence which have escaped, so that such an animal is only shot when it is an immediate danger to the public.

Hazel Blears: This is an operational matter for individual chief officers of police. If police officers encounter any animal which could be considered dangerous to the public, they will deal with it in an appropriate manner and in accordance with the Association of Chief Police Officers Manual of Guidance on the Police Use of Firearms.
	The manual states that the humane destruction of an animal is a duty which may fall to the police service if the animal represents a danger to lives or property, or if it is in such a condition that it must be killed to avoid unnecessary suffering and no veterinary surgeon or licensed slaughterer is available to perform the task or they are otherwise unable to do so.

Police

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers have been allocated to each London borough since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: Information on the number of police officers in each of the Operational Command Units for each London borough in the Metropolitan Police district was not collected before March 2002. Data on police numbers in the Metropolitan Police Service's Operational Command Units for 2002 to 2005 was set out in my reply of 2 November 2005, Official Report, column 111720W, to the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green .

Racist Attacks (Prosecutions)

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions there have been for (a) anti-Semitic attacks and (b) other racist attacks in each of the last three years.

Paul Goggins: The available information from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform provides the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for racially aggravated, religiously aggravated and racially or religiously aggravated offences of grievous bodily harm, actual bodily harm and common assault, England and Wales 200204.
	It is not possible to identify those assaults which are anti-Semitic as the data are not collected at this level of detail.
	Court statistics for 2005 will be available in the autumn
	
		Number of defendants proceeded against at the magistrates courts for racially and religiously aggravated assaults, England and Wales, 2002041
		
			   Proceeded against 
			 Offence description Principal statute 2002 2003 2004 
		
		
			 Racially aggravated wounding or inflicting grievous bodily harm (inflicting bodily injury with or without weapon) Offences against the Person Act 1861 s.20 as amended by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.29(1)(a) and (2) 83 62 43 
			  
			 Racially aggravated actual bodily harm (assaults occasioning ABH) Offences against the Person Act 1861 s.47 as amended by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.29(1)(b) and (2) 475 482 372 
			  
			 Racially aggravated common assaults Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.29(1)(c) and (3) 694 750 908 
			  
			 Religiously aggravated wounding or GBH(17) Offences against the Person Act 1861 s.20 as amended by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.29(1)(a) and (2) 1 1 5 
			  
			 Religiously aggravated ABH(17) Offences against the Person Act 1861 s.47 as amended by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.29(1)(b) and (2) 6 22 13 
			  
			 Religiously aggravated common assault(17) Common Law and Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.29(1)(c) and (3) 2 4 17 
			  
			 Racially or religiously aggravated wounding or GBH(17) Offences against the Person Act 1861 s.20 as amended by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.29(1)(a) and (2) 1 20 17 
			  
			 Racially or religiously aggravated ABH(17) Offences against the Person Act 1861 s.47 as amended by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.29(1)(b) and (2) 7 40 39 
			  
			 Racially or religiously aggravated common assault(17) Common Law and Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.29(1)(c) and (3) 5 62 77 
		
	
	(16) These data are provided on the principal offence basis.
	(17) Codes for these offences were introduced to the court proceedings database in late 2002.

Reoffending

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people who had been placed in custody have re-offended in (a) Ruislip-Northwood constituency, (b) the London borough of Hillingdon, (c) Greater London and (d) England in each year since 1997.

Fiona Mactaggart: Re-offending rates, which are measured through convictions, are only currently available for England and Wales.
	The most recent re-offending data for adults were published in 'Re-offending of adults: results from the 2002 cohort' which is available through the Home Office's website (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/index.htm). The report shows the proportion of offenders who re-offended within two years and were subsequently convicted. The conviction for the offence is counted even if it occurred beyond the two year follow-up period. Results are given for 2000 and 2002.
	Reconviction data for 1997 through 2000 were published in 'Prison statistics England and Wales 2002' and data for 2001 were published in 'Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2003'. Both of these are publications are available on the Home Office website. These series count only those convictions that were secured within the two year follow-up period.
	Reconviction rates should be used with caution as a number of different factors can influence them. Reconviction rates can be adjusted to take account of the changing characteristics of offenders and these adjusted rates are published on the Home Office's website. The most recent data show that there has been a reduction in re-offending for all offenders of 0.2 per cent. against the 2000 baseline. The Home Office Public Service Agreement target is to reduce re-offending by 5 per cent. by 2006.

Respect Action Plan Booklet

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Ministers' photographs are included in the booklet Respect Action Plan; and which Ministers wrote their own words.

Hazel Blears: There are 13 photographs of Ministers' in the Respect Action Plan and a short personal statement of the Ministers commitment to the plans set out in the document.
	The Respect Action Plan is a cross-government agenda and as such Ministers from a number of departments contributed towards the wording of the action plan.

Road Traffic Act

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will increase the fixed penalty for offences under section 14(3) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 to 80; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Goggins: We have no current plans to increase the fixed penalty level for seat belt offences. However, the penalty levels associated with all fixed penalty offences are kept under continual review by the Home Office chaired Fixed Penalty Procedures Working Group, with representatives from relevant Government Departments and criminal justice agencies.

Secure Training Centres

Sally Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the staff to trainee ratio is at (a) Rainsbrook, (b) Oakhill, (c) Hassockfield and (d) Medway secure training centres.

Fiona Mactaggart: In each centre, the ratio of staff to trainees in each unit varies with the size of the unit. In all four centres, there is one member of staff in a directly supervisory role to between 2.5 and 3.5 trainees. In addition, there are custody officers on site to cover admissions, movements and supervision of visits..

Shellfish Toxins (Use of Animals)

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many project licences authorising the use of live animals to detect toxins in shellfish were extant on 31 December 2004; what severity banding was assigned to the licences; and how many animals were used in these procedures in 2004.

Andy Burnham: Home Office records show that three project licences authorising the use of live animals to detect toxins in shellfish under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 were extant on 31 December 2004. Two of the licences have been assigned a moderate severity banding and the other has been assigned a substantial severity banding. A total of 6,468 animals were used in the relevant procedures during 2004.

Tagging

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what sanctions apply to tagged offenders who remove their tags; and what discussions he has had on the effectiveness of such sanctions.

Fiona Mactaggart: Removal of a tag is regarded as a serious failure to comply with the requirements of electronic monitoring. The sanction depends upon the type and age of the offender. Those released from custody may be recalled. Adults subject to a community order will be returned to court. If a breach of the order is proved and the original offence was committed on or after 4 April 2005 the court must either make the requirements of the order more onerous or re-sentence. Juveniles subject to a community sentence will be returned to court. It is for the courts to decide how to deal with a failure to comply. Defendants on bail who remove their tags can expect to be detained.
	Compliance with electronically monitored requirements is generally good. For those made subject to electronic monitoring between April and November 2005, 94 per cent. completed their requirements within the period, 69 per cent. without breach and a further 25 per cent. following breach.

Traffic Offences

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many motorists stopped for breaking the speed limit in (a) Southend, (b) Essex, (c) Hertfordshire, (d) the Metropolitan Police area of London and (e) England and Wales received a (i) warning and (ii) caution in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Hazel Blears: The annual Home Office publication 'Offences relating to motor vehicles, England and Wales, Supplementary tables' 1999 to 2003 (latest available), Table 18 gives data by police force area on written warnings (which includes formal cautions) issued by motoring offence groups. Copies of the publications are available in the Library. The publications can also be accessed on the Home Office Research Development and Statistics (RDS) website at:
	www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/index.htm
	It is not possible from the data collected centrally to identify Southend within the geographical area covered by the Essex police force. 2004 data will be available end of March 2006.

Under-age Drinking

Andrew Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many fixed penalty notices were issued for the consumption of alcohol by under-18s in licensed premises in (a) England and Wales, (b) Greater London and (c) Croydon in (i) 2004 and (ii) 2005;
	(2)  how many fixed penalty notices were issued for selling alcohol to under-18s in (a) England and Wales, (b) Greater London and (c) Croydon in (i) 2004 and (ii) 2005.

Paul Goggins: The penalty notice for disorder (PND) scheme was brought into effect in England and Wales during 200304 to provide the police with a quick and effective means of dealing with minor offences. Under the scheme an offender is issued with a fixed penalty notice and has 21 days in which to pay the penalty or request a court hearing.
	The offences of sale of alcohol to a person under 18 and consumption of alcohol by a person under 18 were added to the scheme with effect from 1 November 2004. The latest available figures showing the number of penalty notices issued for these offences from November 2004 to September 2005, are provided in the table.
	
		Penalty notices for disorder issued for selected alcohol offences, Greater London and England and Wales, 2004 and 2005(18)
		
			 Number 
			   November to December 2004 January to September 2005(18) 
			 Offence code Offence description Greater London England and Wales Greater London England and Wales 
		
		
			 DA07 Sale of alcohol to person under 18 21 113 39 818 
			 DB09 Consumption of alcohol by under 18 in licensed premises  7 2 40 
		
	
	(18) Provisional data.
	Source:
	RDSOffice for Criminal Justice Reform.
	It is not possible to identify penalty notices for disorder issued in Croydon as the data is not broken down to that level of detail.

Vulnerable Witnesses

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many vulnerable witnesses were interviewed by police in each year since 2000; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: This information is not collected centrally.

War Crimes

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many arrests for war crimes under the Geneva conventions have been made by the Metropolitan police since 1997.

Andy Burnham: The Metropolitan police unit responsible for war crimes has no record of any arrests under the provisions of the Geneva Conventions Act 1957 since 1997.

Young Offenders

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many young people of school age (a) found guilty of a crime and (b) placed in custody had a previous history of being in care in (i) Wimbledon and (ii) the London Borough of Merton in each year since 1997.

Fiona Mactaggart: This information is not collected centrally.

Young Offenders

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many crimes were committed by young offenders in each of the last eight years.

Hazel Blears: The information requested is not collected centrally. It is not possible to identify the age of the offender in the recorded crime data series.

Youth Crime

James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to tackle youth crime in Southend; and if he will make a statement.

Hazel Blears: The Youth Justice Board has recently awarded a grant of 217,000 to Southend Youth Offending Team for services to prevent youth crime and antisocial behaviour between 2006 and 2008. The Youth Offending Service in Southend provides a range of services aimed at preventing offending and re-offending, including Youth Inclusion and Support Panels, a Family Support Project, Positive Action for Young People and drug treatment programmes. As part of the Government's Prolific and other Priority Offenders programme, Southend Youth Offending Team, in partnership with other agencies, is currently targeting 20 young offenders who have been identified as being most at risk of becoming future prolific offenders. The focus is on working intensively with these young offenders to address all the risks associated with their re-offending through a multi-agency response.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

BBC World Service

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the role of the BBC World Service in Central Asia.

Jack Straw: The role of the BBC World Service is to deliver high quality international news coverage to a global audience through radio, TV and new media, thereby bringing benefit to Britain. Vernacular radio services targeted towards the Central Asia region include Azeri, Kyrgyz, Pashto, Mandarin, Russian and Uzbek. World Service English language broadcasts are also available as are websites in English, Mandarin and Russian. Recently the World Service closed its dedicated Kazakh service because of low reach and impact.

BBC World Service

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how funding for the proposed BBC World Service Arabic TV channel will be sourced.

Jack Straw: The new channel will be funded from the existing grant in aid to BBC World Service which is currently 239 million per annum. Following a review of its output and input, the World Service has decided to close a number of low impact vernacular services. These closures, together with efficiency measures, will release resources to launch 12-hour Arabic TV.

Burma

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much investment in Burma has been made through UK dependent territories in each of the past five years.

Ian Pearson: holding answer 16 January 2006
	We do not hold any statistics on investment being channelled through the British Overseas Territories into Burma.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of (a) problems facing the oil industry in Muanda, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and (b) the impact of Angolese soldiers in that region; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: We are not aware of any reports of problems facing the oil industry in Muanda, nor of the presence of Angolan troops in Muanda. However, Angolan troops are conducting a bilateral training programme at Kitona in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at the request of the Congolese Government.

Departmental Equipment

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many (a) laptops and (b) mobile phones his Department bought in each year since 1997; and what the cost of each category of equipment was in each year.

Jack Straw: While core IT equipment is centrally provided, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) operates a devolved system of budgeting under which directorates and overseas posts have the freedom to buy a range of IT and other equipment to support their work. Laptop computers, in particular, are frequently bought from such devolved budgets and no central figures exist for the numbers used within the FCO. To obtain this information would incur disproportionate costs.
	Since 2003, officially supplied mobile telephones for use by the FCO in the UK are obtained under the central Government GTM contract owned by the Office of Government Commerce. Records available show that in the financial year 200405 the Department bought 269 mobile phones and 18 Blackberries at the prices specified under that contract. Prior to 2003, mobile phones were obtained under a variety of contracts, but there was generally no charge for the equipment supplied. Responsibility for contracts for mobile phones used by staff overseas is devolved to our overseas missions and to obtain the relevant figures would incur disproportionate costs.

Departmental Expenditure

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the annual expenditure on (a) fixtures and fittings, (b) general office expenses and (c) office equipment was of (i) his Department and (ii) each (A) non-departmental public body, (B) executive agency and (C) other public body for which his Department is responsible in each English region in each of the last three financial years; and what the planned expenditure is for 200506 in each case.

Jack Straw: All the buildings in the United Kingdom for which the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is responsible and for which the hon. Member has requested information about expenditure, including Wilton Park Executive Agency, and the non-departmental public bodies, are in London and the South East of England. The hon. Member will wish to bear in mind that my Department's principal activities are overseas, in 218 missions and posts. However, the specific details for fixtures and fittings, general office expenses and office equipment cannot easily be separated from the overall expenditure records and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Departmental IT Systems

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department has spent on IT systems in each year since 1997; what the purpose of each system is; what the outturn against planned expenditure of each system was; and what the (a) planned and (b) actual date of completion was of each system.

Jack Straw: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office operates a devolved system of financial responsibility under which directorates and overseas posts have the freedom to invest in non strategic IT systems designed to meet specific needs. To compile a comprehensive answer to the hon. Member's question would require exhaustive searches of records in the UK and overseas, and would incur disproportionate costs.

EU Budget

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the net contribution per head of population in the United Kingdom will be under the next EU budget.

Douglas Alexander: Over the next financial perspective of 200713, the per capita net contribution will be 88 per annum on a payments basis. This reflects the deal agreed at the December European Council and will leave us paying, for the first time since we joined the EU, roughly the same as France and Italy.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many meetings of the EU (a) Joint Committee (EEC-Macao), (b) Joint Committee (EEC-Nepal), (c) Joint Committee (EEC-Pakistan) and (d) Joint Committee (EEC-Sri Lanka) have taken place during the UK Presidency of the EU; who was presiding over each meeting; what other UK representatives were present; what provisions were made for representation of the devolved governments; and if he will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: There were no meetings of the EC Joint Committees on Macao, Nepal, Pakistan or Sri Lanka during the UK presidency.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many meetings of the EU (a) Joint Council (EEC-Countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council), (b) Joint Committee (ECC-Yemen), (c) Joint Committee Cooperation Committee (EEC-ASEAN) and (d) Joint Committee (EEC-Bangladesh) have taken place during the UK presidency of the EU; who was presiding over each meeting; what other UK representatives were present; what provision was made for representation of the devolved governments; and if he will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: There were no meetings of the EC-Yemen Joint Committee, EC-Countries of the Gulf Joint Co-operation Council or the EC-Bangladesh Joint Committee during the UK presidency. There are no meetings between the EC and ASEAN.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many meetings of the (a) Joint Committee (EEC-Uruguay), (b) Joint Cooperation Committee (EEC-Canada) and (c) Joint Committee (EC-Japan) have taken place during the UK presidency of the EU; who presided over each meeting; which other UK representatives were present; what provisions were made for representation of the devolved governments; and if he will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: The EC-Uruguay Joint Committee met on 10 November 2005. The UK was represented by officials from the British embassy in Montevideo. The EC-Canada Joint Co-operation Committee met on 25 October 2005. The presidency was represented by officials from London and the British high commission in Ottawa. There was no EC-Japan Joint Committee. The Government take into account the views and interests of the devolved Administrations when formulating the UK's policy position on all EU and international issues which touch upon devolved matters. Provision for attendance at EU meetings by Ministers and officials of the devolved Administrations is set out in paragraphs 4.1215 of the Concordat on Co-ordination of European Union Policy Issues (part of the Memorandum of Understanding between devolved Ministers and the UK Government) a copy of which is available at:
	http://www.dca.gov.uk/constitution/devolution/pubs/odpm_dev_600629.pdf.
	Ministers from the devolved Administrations have attended and do attend Councils, by agreement with the lead Whitehall Minister.

EU Council

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many of the steps proposed on the reform of the European Council put forward in the Prime Minister and Chancellor Schroeder's joint letter of 25 February 2002 to the President of the Council have since been adopted.

Douglas Alexander: The European Council in Seville in June 2002 agreed a number of practical changes to improve the effectiveness and transparency of the Council, in line with proposals made in my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's and Chancellor Schroeder's joint letter of 25 February 2002. These measures did not require Treaty amendment.
	Further reforms of the Council are proposed in the European Union Constitutional Treaty. However, as my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said to the House of Commons on 20 June 2005, under the current circumstances, the Treaty cannot proceed.
	The UK will continue to advocate positive reforms of the EU institutions where these are practical and make sense.

EU Council

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proposals his Department supports to improve the decision-making process of the European Council.

Douglas Alexander: Now that the UK presidency is complete, the Government will be giving further consideration to issues related to the period of reflection agreed at the June European Council. We have made clear that we support a wide debate on the future direction of the EU and how best to respond to the challenge of globalisation, rather than simply a narrow focus on institutional architecture.

EU Council

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many (a) technical committees and (b) working parties of the EU Council of Ministers have been held since 1 July 1999; and how many were (i) attended and (ii) led by Scottish Executive officials in a UK capacity.

Douglas Alexander: In accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC (the Comitology decision), the Commission publishes an annual report on the workings of committees operating in accordance with arrangements set out in that decision. The report for 2004 (reference 14850/05, COM(2005)554) was published on 11 November 2005 and was deposited in Parliament on 1 December 2005 in accordance with the arrangements for the scrutiny of EU documents.
	We estimate that there have been nearly 5,000 working group meetings during the UK's presidency of the EU, many of which relate exclusively to reserved matters. We do not have figures for earlier periods and it would incur disproportionate cost to attempt to quantify how many have been held since 1 July 1999.
	The Scottish Executive do not keep records of attendance at working group or committee level, although where the subject matter of such groups is of sufficient relevance to the Scottish Executive then officials from either the Scottish Executive's EU Office in Brussels or visiting officials from Scotland will attend. Attendance is at the discretion of lead departments, the Scottish Executive being consulted where the matter is of devolved interest.

EU Documents

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many and what proportion of EU documents have been classed as restricted and therefore not available to the European Scrutiny Committee in each year since 1997.

Douglas Alexander: The Government does not keep figures on this issue. Documents subject to scrutiny by the European Scrutiny Committee are defined by the Committee's Standing Order, SO 143, and the vast majority are publicly available texts. In a very small number of cases, for example, negotiating mandates with third parties, the documents are classed as restricted. In these cases, the Government makes unclassified summaries of the decisions available to the European Scrutiny Committee and provides a full explanatory memorandum at the concluding stage.

EU Legislation

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many pieces and what proportion of EU legislation has been passed during periods when the House has been in recess in each year since 1997.

Douglas Alexander: There are periods during the year when the Council of Ministers meets but when Parliament is in recess. However, the Government works closely with the European Scrutiny Committee so that business is planned in a way which limits the occasions when legislation is agreed before the Committee has completed its scrutiny. There are, however, occasions when this is not possible. In the years since figures have been available, there were 20 occasions in 2003, and five in 2004.
	Parliamentary figures show that in 2005 there were 68 occasions when the Council adopted uncleared proposals when the House was in recess. Figures for 2005 included 51 occasions when there were overrides when the House was in dissolution, and 17 occasions during summer recess. Final confirmed figures for the second half of the year will be provided by the Government to the European Scrutiny Committee in line with the commitment to provide twice-yearly reports on scrutiny overrides.

External Consultants

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department has paid since 2004 to external consultants who had previously been employed by the Department in any capacity within the previous five years.

Jack Straw: To answer this question each transaction paid to a consultancy supplier, either in the UK or at posts, would need to be checked against the employment information of each individual contractor whose services the payment covered. This information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Scrutiny Reserve

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the occasions on which the scrutiny reserve was overridden in (a) 2004 and (b) 2005; and what the reason was in each case.

Douglas Alexander: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 22 November 2005, Official Report, column 1900W about the number of occasions the Government has overridden the scrutiny reserve resolution since 1980. That answer provided statistics from 2001 until June 2005, the period for which figures were available.
	Final figures for the last six months of 2005 are still being collated but preliminary information suggests a figure of about 36. Details of these occasions will be sent to the European Scrutiny Committee once the figures have been confirmed in line with the Government's commitment to provide the Committee with twice yearly reports on scrutiny overrides. Ministers override the scrutiny reserve resolution they account for their action in doing so by writing to the Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee.

HEALTH

A and E Services

John Cummings: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what improvements have been made to the accident and emergency services in (a) the Sunderland Royal general hospital, (b) Hartlepool university hospital and (c) Durham university hospital since 2002; and if she will make a statement.

Liam Byrne: As at September 2005, over 99 per cent, of patients spent less than four hours in the accident and emergency (A and E) departments of the County Durham and Darlington acute hospitals national health service trust and the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS.
	Both NHS trusts have benefited from improvements to their A and E departments since 2002. Initiatives include:
	a new discharge unit at the university hospital of North Durham to help smooth the discharge of patients from hospital;
	a local primary care trust initiative to provide extra support to local nursing homes with high rates of A and E attendances;
	additional staff recruitment for the A and E department at the university hospital of North Durham; extension of resuscitation facilities at the university hospital of Hartlepool;
	provision of secure paediatric facilities at the university hospital of Hartlepool together with an increase in the number of staff with specific paediatric nursing qualification; and
	additional patient monitoring equipment both for adults and children at the university hospital Hartlepool.
	The information relating to the City Hospitals NHS Foundation Trusts is a matter for Monitor, the statutory name of which is the Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts. The Chairman of Monitor will write to my hon. Friend and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.

Administrative Costs

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total administration costs of her core Department were in the last period for which figures are available; and whether these are regarded as (a) identifiable and (b) non-identifiable for the purposes of public expenditure statistical analyses.

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the administrative costs were of each agency for which she has responsibility in the last year for which figures are available; what the total of such costs was in that year; and whether the costs are regarded for the purposes of public expenditure statistical analyses as (a) identifiable and (b) non-identifiable.

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which functions of her core Department are carried out in (a) England and (b) London; and what administration costs were associated with these functions for each area in the last year.

Alex Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the administrative costs were of each non-departmental public body for which she has responsibility in the last year for which figures are available; what the total of such costs was in that year; and whether the costs are regarded for the purposes of public expenditure statistical analyses as (a) identifiable and (b) non-identifiable.

Jane Kennedy: The administration budgets regime which HM Treasury oversee applies to Whitehall Departments only. The Department's non-departmental public bodies are not covered by this regime.
	Information on the Department's administration costs, including the Department's executive agencies, is given in the Departmental Annual Report 2005 (Cm 6524, tables 8.1 and 8.2). The most recent Public Expenditure Outturn White Paper (Cm 6639) gives some provisional information on the 200405 outturn for departmental administration costs.
	The latest information on gross expenditure of the Department's executive non-departmental public bodies for 200405 is given as follows:
	Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health33,300,000
	Health Care Commission62,863,000
	Commission for Social Care Inspection156,603,000
	Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority8,568,056
	Health Protection Agency204,255,000
	Human Tissue Authoritynil: not in existence in 200405. 200506 budget is 1 million
	Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts (Monitor)16,011,000
	National Institute for Biological Standards and Control22,752,000
	The core Department's functions are all carried out within England. The Department operates from two main sites, in London and Leeds, and has smaller numbers of staff at a number of other sites within England.
	All this expenditure is regarded as identifiable for the purposes of public expenditure statistical analyses.

Arrowe Park Hospital

Andrew Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what percentage of patients treated in Arrowe Park Hospital in the last 12 months were resident (a) in the borough of Ellesmere Port and Neston and (b) within the area of Chester city council;
	(2)  how many patients have been treated in Arrowe Park Hospital in 2005 who were resident in (a) in the borough of Ellesmere Port and Neston and (b) within the area of Chester city council.

Liam Byrne: The information is not available in the format requested. The table shows the number of patients living in the local authority of Chester and the Ellesmere Port and Neston primary care trust (PCT) area who were treated at the Wirral hospital national health service trust in 200405.
	
		Count of patients for Wirral hospital NHS Trust; detail of patients in residence in Ellesmere Port and Neston PCT and Chester local authority, data for all NHS hospitals in England, data year 200405
		
			  Patients Percentage of total 
		
		
			 Total patients for Wirral Hospital NHS Trust 50,612  
			
			 Patients treated who live in the local authority of Chester 253 0.5 
			
			 Patients treated who live in the area covered by Ellesmere Port and Neston PCT 2,795 5.5 
		
	
	Notes:
	Patient counts:
	Patient counts are based on the hospital episode statistics unique patient identifier (HESID). This identifier is derived based on patient's date of birth, postcode, sex, local patient identifier and NHS number, using an agreed algorithm. Where data are incomplete, HESID might erroneously link episodes or fail to recognise episodes for the same patient. Care is therefore needed, especially where duplicate records persist in the data. The patient count cannot be summed across a table where patients may have episodes in more than one cell.
	Data Quality:
	Hospital episode statistics (HES) are compiled from data sent by over 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) in England. The Health and Social Care Information Centre liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data via HES processes. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain.
	Ungrossed data:
	Figures have not been adjusted for shortfalls in data (i.e. the data are ungrossed).
	Source:
	Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre.

Audiology Services

Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  whether treatment will be defined as the fitting of a hearing aid if one is required in relation to the target due to be introduced in 2008 that no one will wait more than 18 weeks for treatment in audiology services;
	(2)  what assessment she has made of the effects of thenew 18-week target on NHS hearing aid users who are waiting to switch from analogue to digital hearing aids;
	(3)  whether the 18-week target for treatment in audiology to be introduced in 2008 will be limited in its application to those patients accessing audiology services by consultant referral.

Liam Byrne: Proposed principles and definitions to underpin the 18 weeks target are available at www.18weeks.nhs.uk The Department is currently collating the responses of a service-wide listening exercise on these proposals and will publish the outcome in 2006.

Capio Healthcare UK

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what date Dr. Thomas Mann, chief executive of Capio Healthcare UK, left the employment of the NHS as director of the NHS national implementation team for Independent Sector Treatment Centres (ISTCs); on what dates the process for selection of Capio Healthcare UK to operate a group of ISTCs (a) started and (b) finished; and on what date her Department signed contracts with Capio Healthcare UK for ISTCs across England.

Liam Byrne: Dr. Thomas Mann left the post of director of the national implementation team in October 2003 and left the employment of the civil service on 29 February 2004.
	The procurement for independent sector treatment centres was launched in December 2002, when a series of advertisements were published in the then titled, Official Journal of the European Union, and is still ongoing. To date, Capio Healthcare UK has been awarded one contract in the programme for the provision of a national chain of treatment centres, signed on 13 May 2004. In addition to this procurement, Capio Healthcare UK were awarded a one-year contract for the provision of supplementary surgical activity on 25 May 2004.

Carers Special Grant

Hywel Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was allocated to each county in Carers Special Grant in each year since 2000.

Liam Byrne: The data requested have been placed in the Library.

Chelmsford PCT

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to her oral answer of 20 December 2005, Official Report, column 1700, when she expects the turnaround team to conclude its work in investigating the financial situation at Chelmsford primary care trust.

Rosie Winterton: The Secretary of State announced the formation of turnaround teams at the beginning of December 2005. The aim of these teams is to restore financial balance to the national health service organisations concerned.
	Chelmsford primary care trust (PCT) is subject to the first phase of the work, which is an initial assessment to establish the position of the PCTs financial control and actions to restore financial balance.
	This assessment has now finished and the strategic health authority is currently reviewing the results with the aim of forming a tailored package of turnaround support.

Child Health and Social Services

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 22 November 2005, Official Report, column 1802W, on child health and social services, if she will make a statement on the increases in (a) high cholesterol, (b) heart failure and (c) diabetes in the last 10 years.

Caroline Flint: Information on the number of episodes of heart failure, diabetes and high cholesterol is shown in the table. Data prior to 199899 are not available and are therefore not included in the table.
	
		Count of finished consultant episodes for heart failure, diabetes and high cholesterol. Data for all national health service hospitals in England from 1998 to 2005
		
			  Finished consultant episodes 
			  Heart failure Diabetes High cholesterol 
		
		
			 199899 111,722 71,877 1,145 
			 19992000 110,367 72,241 1,977 
			 200001 106,080 72,352 2,831 
			 200102 104,694 69,120 4,455 
			 200203 107,471 68,232 5,546 
			 200304 105,569 68,099 6,640 
			 200405 106,567 71,195 9,772 
		
	
	Source:
	Hospital episode statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre.

Counsellors

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will make a statement on plans to regulate counsellors; whether this will include voluntary counsellors; and if she will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: The Government intend to regulate counsellors in the interests of patient and client safety. Consideration will be given to the most appropriate and proportionate form of regulation for voluntary practitioners once agreement has been reached on the roles, competences and training for their safe practice.

Dentistry

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to ensure adequate provision of NHS dentistry in East Yorkshire.

Rosie Winterton: The East Yorkshire and Yorkshire Wolds and Coast primary care trusts are working together to improve access to NHS dentistry in East Yorkshire. A national health service dental access centre opened in Withernsea in 2001. In 200405, the dental access centre, and associated clinics in Hornsea and Beverley, provided treatment to 5,250 patients.
	A new dental practice opened in Beverley in January 2005, which will provide NHS dental care for 5,500 patients, and a further new practice will be opening soon in Beverley with an agreement to provide a dental care for an additional 3,000 NHS patients.

Dentistry

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists serve the (a) Yorkshire Wolds and Coast primary care crust and (b) East Yorkshire primary care trust.

Rosie Winterton: As at 30 September 2005, there were 51 national health service dentists with a general dental services or personal dental services contract within Yorkshire Wolds and Coast primary care trust (PCT). The equivalent figure for East Yorkshire PCT is 63.
	Data on private dentists is not held centrally.

Dentistry

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists in the Beverley and Holderness constituency (a) operate fully within the NHS and (b) offer NHS treatment only for children.

Rosie Winterton: As at 30 September 2005, there were 31 national health service dentists with a general dental services (GDS) or personal dental services (PDS) contract within Beverley and Holderness parliamentary constituency.
	Dentists are independent contractors and those with a GDS or PDS contract may provide as little or as much NHS treatment as he or she chooses or has agreed with the primary care trust (PCT). The Dental Practice Board has no information concerning the amount of time dedicated to private or NHS work by individual dentists.
	Information about who dentists offer to treat is not collected centrally. However, an analysis of NHS patient registrations data as at 1 June 2005 show that within East Yorkshire PCT there was one dentist having only children registered and none in the Yorkshire Wolds and Coast PCT area.
	Notes:
	This figure has been provided by the NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre. The data source is the Dental Practice Board.

Dentistry

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether an individual primary care trust will be permitted to vary the value of a unit of dental activity between different dentists with whom it holds contracts from April 2006.

Rosie Winterton: From April 2006, general dental services contracts and personal dental services agreements are a matter for local agreement between primary care trusts and dentists, subject to the provisions set out in the General Dental Services and Personal Dental Services Transitional Provisions Order 2005 (SI2005/3435). The value of a unit of dental activity may vary between dentists depending on a range of factors. These include the relationship between national health service earnings and dental activity during the reference period October 2004 to September 2005, which in turn will reflect the average treatment needs of a dentist's patients.

Departmental Correspondence

Gavin Strang: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much departmental correspondence was addressed to people who had (a) died and (b) moved house in each of the last five years.

Jane Kennedy: The Department does not hold customer information for the purpose of proactively writing to customers. We only ever reply to correspondence directly sent to us.

Departmental Expenditure

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the annual expenditure on (a) fixtures and fittings, (b) general office expenses and (c) office equipment was of (i) her Department and (ii) each (A) non-departmental public body, (B) executive agency and (C) other public body for which her Department is responsible in each English region in each of the last three financial years; and what the planned expenditure is for 200506 in each case.

Jane Kennedy: The information requested is not available and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The Department does not collect information on such categories of expenditure made by its executive agencies and executive non-departmental public bodies but details of their financial position can be found in their published annual reports.

Departmental Funding

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding her Department has granted to the (a) General Chiropractic Council, (b) General Dental Council, (c) General Medical Council, (d) General Optical Council, (e) General Osteopathic Council, (f) Health Professions Council, (g) Nursing and Midwifery Council and (h) Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in each of the last three years.

Jane Kennedy: The Department granted the following amounts to the following organisations over the past three years, which is shown in the table.
	
		Departmental funding to regulatory bodies, 200304 to 200506
		
			 Regulatory body 200304 200405 200506 
		
		
			 General Chiropractic Council 0 0 0 
			 General Osteopathic Council 0 0 0 
			 General Dental Council 2,321.10 378,351.44 234,982.40 
			 General Medical Council 212,753.65 20,759.24 0 
			 General Optical Council 0 0 0 
			 Health Professions Council 1,330,000.00 0 0 
			 Nursing and Midwifery Council 1,962,749.67 937.04 762.14 
			 Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain 4,254,502.93 3,231,191.85 5,413,614.20

Emergency Contraception

Brian Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many prescriptions of the morning after pill were given in the Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland strategic health authority in the last 10 years, broken down by age of the patient.

Rosie Winterton: Prescription data for strategic health authorities (SHAs) is only available from 2001.
	It is not possible to provide an age breakdown for this data.
	
		Prescriptions for morning after pill, 200104
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 2001 12,685 
			 2002 12,682 
			 2003 12,646 
			 2004 11,856 
		
	
	Emergency contraception is also available through community contraception clinics, and can be purchased over the counter by those aged over 16. The Department does not hold data centrally on the latter.
	Two national health service trusts provide community contraception clinic services in this SHA. The data for 200102, when the SHA came into being, to 200405 is shown in the table.
	
		Occasions on which hormonal post-coital contraceptives dispensed at family planning clinics in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland SHA, by age,200102 to 200405
		
			 Age group 200102 200203 200304 200405 
		
		
			 Under 15 198 251 130 74 
			 15 306 321 269 186 
			 1619 1,192 937 970 738 
			 2024 779 602 555 510 
			 2534 434 355 359 304 
			 35 and over 144 124 118 119 
			 Total 3,053 2,590 2,401 1,931 
		
	
	Source:
	Health and Social Care Information Centre KT31 return.

Free Eye Tests

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pensioners in Hendon received free eye tests in 2005; and if she will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: Information on the number of sight tests by constituency or by pensioners is not collected or held centrally. The Department does not count the number of pensioners receiving free sight tests, but does count the number of free sight tests given to persons aged 60 or over.
	The Hendon constituency lies solely within the Barnet primary care trust (PCT). The estimated number of free national health service sight tests for persons aged 60 or over, paid by Barnet PCT for the year ending March 31 2005 is 24,477.

Greater Peterborough Primary Care Partnership Area

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps she is taking to tackle health inequalities in the Greater Peterborough primary care partnership area.

Rosie Winterton: The national health service is in receipt of record resources as a result of the Government's policy on funding the NHS. Funding of the NHS has increased from 34.7 billion in 199798 to 69.7 billion in 200405. By 200708, spending on the NHS will have increased to over 92 billion.
	This means that compared to the 84.6 million it received in 200304, North Peterborough primary care trust (PCT) will receive a funding allocation of 153.2 million in 200708. Over the same period, South Peterborough PCTs funding allocation will rise from 64.8 million to 114.2 million in 200708.
	The responsibility for local health services lies with the local NHS. It is for PCTs in conjunction with strategic health authorities and other local stakeholders to plan and develop services to meet the needs of their populations using the funding allocated.

Group B Streptococcus Screening

Mark Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what analysis her Department has made of research and experience in other countries of Group B streptococcus screening during pregnancy;
	(2)  what guidance is given on when a patient should be advised that Group B streptococcus has been detected in a test.

Liam Byrne: It is for clinicians, in partnership with their patients, to decide on when and how to advise patients of test results. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' guideline number 36, Prevention of Early Onset Neonatal Group B Streptococcal Disease and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's clinical guideline, Antenatal Care: Routine care for the healthy pregnant women give guidance based on research evidence.
	The NHS Health Technology Programme has commissioned a study of different approaches to the management of Group B Streptococcus in pregnancy. A review of the international evidence forms part of this work.

Havering Primary Care Trust

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Havering primary care trust was successful in obtaining a share of the 95 million which was offered to those PCTs which had successfully implemented the new 'Choose and Book' system within the Government's deadline of 31 December 2005.

Rosie Winterton: Havering primary care trust (PCT) was successful in obtaining 312,000, from stage one of the incentive scheme. This was awarded to the PCT in December 2005.

Health Committee Evidence

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the oral evidence from Mr. John Bacon to the Health Committee on 1 December 2005, HC736-i, on public expenditure on health and personal social services 2005, if she will place in the Library the details of diagnostic waiting times referred to in answer to question 188.

Liam Byrne: The Department will respond to the Health Select Committee in due course.

Health Services (West Lancashire)

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) average and (b) target waiting time to see a (i) psychiatrist and (ii) psychologist was for (A) adults and (B) children in the West Lancashire constituency in each of the last five years.

Liam Byrne: The Department does not routinely collect information on waiting times for appointments with psychologists as waiting times targets apply to consultant-led services only.
	The maximum waiting time for a first out-patient appointment with a psychiatry consultant is 17 weeks. From the end of 2005, the target will reduce to 13 weeks. The maximum waiting time for in-patient treatment under the care of a psychiatry consultant is nine months. From the end of 2005, the target will reduce to six months.
	Information on the estimated average waiting from general practitioner written referral to first out-patient appointment with a psychiatry consultant working in national health services organisations covering the West Lancashire constituency is shown in the table.
	
		Estimated average waiting time from GP written referral to first out-patient appointment, September 2001 to September 2005
		
			  Effective length of wait from receipt of GP written referral request to first out-patient attendance (weeks) 
			 North Sefton and West Lancashire Community NHS trust (provider based) 
			 Quarter September: 0 to 4 4 to 13 13 to 26 26 plus Median wait 
		
		
			 2001 65 91 0 0 5.3 
		
	
	
		Estimated average waiting time from GP written referral to first out-patient appointment, September 2001 to September 2005
		
			  Effective length of wait from receipt of GP written referral request to first out-patient attendance (weeks) 
			 Quarter September: 0 to4 4 to13 13 to 17 17 to 21 21 plus Median wait 
		
		
			 Lancashire Care NHS Trust (provider trust)  
			 2002 480 332 39 5 5 3.6 
			 2003 470 289 28 19 0 3.4 
			 2004 419 232 25 0 0 3.2 
			 2005 299 156 0 0 0 3.1 
			 West Lancashire PCT (provider based)   
			 2002 29 35 0 0 0 4.9 
			 2003 23 25 0 0 0 4.5 
			 2004 3 4 0 0 0 6.3 
			 2005 0 0 0 0 0  
			 West Lancashire PCT (commissioner based)   
			 2002 2 5 0 0 0 7.6 
			 2003 38 64 2 1 0 6.1 
			 2004 4 4 0 0 0 5.1 
			 2005 15 32 0 0 0 6.5 
		
	
	Notes:
	Data for specialties:
	710: Mental Illness
	711: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
	712: Forensic Psychiatry
	713: Psychotherapy
	715: Old Age Psychiatry
	Due to small numbers, the calculation of the median wait is prone to fluctuation at primary care trust (PCT) and strategic health authority level. Care should be taken when interpreting these figures.
	Waiting times apply to consultant-led appointments only. Services in many areas are now run by multi disciplinary teams.
	Lancashire Care NHS Trust was formed in an April 2002 merger of the following organisations:
	RMBBlackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Healthcare NHS Trust (mental health services)
	RMLBlackpool, Wyre and Fyde Community Health NHS trust (mental health services)
	REUBurnley Health Care NHS Trust (mental health services)
	RJUChorley and South Ribble NHS Trust (mental health services)
	RMECommunicare NHS Trust (psychology and drugs services)
	RMGGuild Community Healthcare NHS Trust
	RVTNorth Sefton and West Lancashire Community NHS Trust
	PCTs have been in existence since April 2002.
	Source:
	Department of Health form QM08 and QM08R

Health Services (West Lancashire)

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding was allocated for mental health services in (a) West Lancashire and (b) Lancashire in each of the last three years.

Liam Byrne: The information requested is not collected centrally. Current funding arrangements mean that primary care trusts are allocated resources on the basis of the relative needs of their populations. It is for primary care trusts in partnership with strategic health authorities and other local stakeholders to determine how best to use their funds to meet national and local priorities.

Health Services (West Lancashire)

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the waiting time is for people to be taken on by an NHS dentist in (a) West Lancashire constituency and (b) Lancashire; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: Information on waiting times is not collected centrally.
	Primary care trusts (PCTs) across Lancashire received some 1.9 million in access funding in 200405 to improve access to dentistry. The Cumbria and Lancashire strategic health authority (SHA) advise that from this money, the equivalent of 16.1 whole-time additional dentists are now working within the Lancashire area. PCTs across Lancashire have been working with dental practices to support them in moving over to the new personal dental service (PDS) contract. As at the beginning of December 2005, 37 per cent. of practices had converted to PDS. The SHA advises that all PDS contracts have growth included in them for extra national health service registrations and practices have been increasing their registrations on a steady basis.

Health Visiting Services

Richard Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance she has issued to primary care trusts on the minimum level of funding that should be provided for health visiting services.

Liam Byrne: It is for primary care trusts in partnership with strategic health authorities, local authorities and other local stakeholders to determine how best to use their funds to meet national and local priorities for improving health, tackling health inequalities and modernising services. This process provides the means for addressing local needs within the health community including the provision of health visiting services. All primary care trusts will commission these services to meet the needs of their local population.

Infertility Treatment

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action she is taking to ensure that the social eligibility criteria applied by primary care trusts to couples seeking infertility treatment is the same throughout the country.

Caroline Flint: The primary responsibility for the implementation of the clinical guideline on the assessment and treatment of people with fertility problems produced in February 2004 by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence rests with the national health service at local level, in discussion with patients' groups and local health bodies. Local policies will reflect local needs and priorities.

Influenza

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many pensioners have been unable to obtain influenza vaccines in each London borough in 2005; and if she will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: This information is not collected centrally.

Influenza

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 7 December 2005, Official Report, column 1406W, on influenza vaccines, what steps she is taking (a) to expand and (b) to diversify production capacity for production of influenza vaccine.

Caroline Flint: We have invited manufacturers to tender for a contract to supply pandemic flu vaccine once the pandemic strain is known. The United Kingdom will need approximately 120 million doses to be available as soon as possible. This proposal to purchase in advance the capacity needed to make pandemic flu vaccine will make sure that an effective vaccine is available for use in the UK as quickly as possible after a flu pandemic starts.
	We are finalising a contract for the purchase of two to three million doses of vaccine against the H5N1 strain currently circulating in South East Asia and other areas. This vaccine can be used for research and for possible use for healthcare workers in an emergency, and may provide some limited protection against a pandemic emerging from that source. We hope to award this contract shortly and should receive some stocks in the next few months. Award of these contracts will provide manufacturers with resource to develop vaccines and increase production capacity.
	We have already met with several manufacturers to discuss a range of vaccine production technologies, in addition to the standard egg based technology, such as DNA and cell-culture vaccines which may allow production capacity to be increased.

Influenza

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress is being made towards ensuring that an adequate vaccine against the human form of avian influenza is available in the UK.

Caroline Flint: On 19 October 2005, the Chief Medical Officer announced that the Department is inviting manufacturers to tender for a contract to supply pandemic flu vaccine once the pandemic strain is known. The United Kingdom will need approximately 120 million doses to be available as soon as possible. The proposal to purchase in advance the capacity needed to make pandemic flu vaccine will make sure that an effective vaccine is available for use in the UK as quickly as possible after a flu pandemic starts.
	On 20 July 2005, the Department invited manufacturers to tender for a limited supply of H5N1 vaccine. The move is part of the work to prepare for and reduce the impact of a possible flu pandemic. We hope to award this contract shortly.

Lymphoedema

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been diagnosed with lymphoedema in (a) Tamworth constituency, (b) Staffordshire, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England in each year since 1997.

Rosie Winterton: Data on the incidence of lymphoedema are not available centrally.

Macular Degeneration

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps the Government are taking to make photodynamic therapy available on the NHS to treat age-related macular degeneration.

Rosie Winterton: The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued their guidance on photodynamic therapy on 24 September 2003. Implementation of the NICE guidance was co-ordinated by local specialist commissioning groups. All primary care trusts are funding photodynamic therapy treatment for patients with both the wholly classic and predominantly classic forms of age-related macular degeneration.

Media Monitoring

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will place in the Library copies of (a) print and (b) broadcast media monitoring undertaken for her Department since 2002.

Jane Kennedy: The current arrangements for regular national and regional media monitoring and analysis started in late 2004. The Department monitors the print media only in the regional media. A small proportion of the national broadcast media is monitored but the large majority of media monitoring covers the print media only.
	Over the summer of 2005, a summary of media coverage for December 2004 was published as part of the Department's communications research publication scheme under the freedom of information (FOI). Officers considered the merits of different methods of publication for all the research, including the Department's Library and its website. The Department's website was chosen as the most cost-effective method and the best fit with FOI requirements.
	The Department has committed to publishing summaries of its communications research every six months. The next publication date is February 2006. This will include summaries of media analysis from January to June 2005. Copies of the December 2004 analysis has been placed in the Library.

Nappies

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much the NHS spent on disposable nappies in each year since 1997;
	(2)  what recent discussions she has had with ministerial colleagues in the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with regard to the use of reusable nappies in NHS hospitals;
	(3)  what estimate she has made of the effect on costs to NHS hospitals of supplying reusable nappies on maternity wards in place of disposable nappies.

Liam Byrne: Information on national health service expenditure on disposable nappies is not collected centrally.
	I have had no recent discussions with ministerial colleagues in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs about the use of reusable nappies in national health service hospitals. It is for individual NHS trusts to decide on the practicalities, including the effect on costs, of promoting the use of reusable nappies in their own maternity units.

NHS Central Registration System

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate she has made of the number of new registrants with general practitioners who had previously been resident outside the UK in each of the last three years for which information is available, broken down by local authority area.

Liam Byrne: The Department does not hold this information centrally.

NHS Gift Card Scheme

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Healthwhat involvement her Department has had in the NHS Gift Card Scheme; and if she will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: holding answer 9 January 2006
	The Department has had no involvement in the NHS gift card scheme.

NHS Tariff Uplift

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the size of the NHS tariff uplift (a) will be between 200506 and 200607 and (b) was between 200405 and 200506.

Liam Byrne: Details on the 200607 tariff will be published in January 2006.

NICE Guidance

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what direction her Department has given to the NHS regarding the implementation of clinical guidelines emanating from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

Jane Kennedy: Clinical guidelines issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) are included within the national standards set out in Standards for Better Health (2004). NICE'S clinical guidelines are part of the developmental standards which national health service bodies are required to take into account in discharging their functions. The Healthcare Commission also takes these standards into consideration when undertaking their annual review of NHS bodies.

Nurses

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many qualified nurses are on maternity leave from the NHS; and how many of these nurses qualified in the last 12 months.

Liam Byrne: This information is not collected centrally.

Nursing and Midwifery Council

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many complaints were referred to the Fitness to Practice Department of the Nursing and Midwifery Council in each of the last five years.

Jane Kennedy: This information is not held centrally. Data about fitness to practice cases can be obtained directly from the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Osteoporosis

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received advocating the incorporation of osteoporosis in the new Quality and Outcomes Framework of the General Medical Services contract from April 2006.

Liam Byrne: The quality and outcomes framework is a national agreement as part of the general medical services contract. Negotiations have just concluded for the 200607 contract and were held between NHS Employers (NHSE) and the General Practice Committee of the British Medical Association. As part of the review process NHSE secured an independent review panel at the University of Birmingham to receive submissions and representations from interested parties.

Payment-by-results

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether any NHS organisations which have suspended the operation of payment by results for elective activity; whether suspension of payment by results has been sanctioned by her Department; and if she will make a statement.

Liam Byrne: 200506 is the first year of transition from locally negotiated prices to a national tariff. The use of risk-sharing mechanisms by a few health authorities is reasonable in this context. This is a mature and sensible approach and amounts to a minor modification of the planned roll out of payment by results rather than its suspension.

Pesticide Residue

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent (a) assessment she has made of and (b) reports she has commissioned into the health implications arising from the presence in food of a combination of (i) additives and (ii) pesticide residues.

Caroline Flint: holding answer 16 January 2006
	The independent Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) considered the health implications of mixtures of pesticides in 2002 and mixtures of additives in 2004. They advised that the health hazard due to mixtures of such chemicals at levels found in food is likely to be small. The COT report can be found on the Food Standard Agency's (FSA) website at: www.food.gov.uk/science/research/researchinfo/foodcomponentsresearch/mixturesresearch/t10prog/
	The FSA advises that it is funding research to meet the COT recommendations to investigate possible health effects of mixtures of chemicals, including a project on food additives and a programme on mixtures of pesticides. Details of this research can be found on the FSA's website at: www.food.gov.uk/science/research/researchinfo/foodcomponentsresearch/mixturesresearch/t10prog/

Prescribing Practice (Budget Overruns)

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what representations she has received regarding occurrences of the prescribing practice where patients are denied access to certain treatments at times of the year or month when budgets are likely to over-run; and what assessment she has made of how widespread this practice is.

Jane Kennedy: I have received a number of representations on the potential impact of local national health service deficits on patients.

Psychology

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of (a) chartered psychologists and (b) chartered educational psychologists currently have a doctorate in psychology.

Liam Byrne: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how the revised advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on preventative treatment for respiratory syncytial virus will be disseminated to trusts; and whether additional funds will be available to trusts to allow the implementation of such guidance.

Caroline Flint: The recommendations from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation are made available on the website. It is a matter for clinical governance on how these recommendations are implemented.

Scanning Services

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when she expects to make a decision concerning a new data collection procedure for waiting times for scans and tests.

Liam Byrne: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley) on 8 December 2005, Official Report, column 1579W.

School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total cost of the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme in 200506 is expected to be; what the cost was in 200405; and what has been the unit cost per item of fruit supplied and distributed.

Caroline Flint: holding answer 16 January 2006
	The total cost of the school fruit and vegetable scheme in 200506 is expected to be 37,354,000.
	The cost of the scheme in 200405 was 28,840,000. The lower costs in 200405 are due to the roll out of the scheme to schools in all the English regions which was not complete until November 2004.
	The unit cost per piece of fruit and vegetable supplied is 10p.

Smoking

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how bingo halls will be treated under the proposed ban on smoking in public places.

Caroline Flint: The smoke free provisions of the Health Bill do not single out bingo halls for any special treatment. Bingo halls will be covered by the Bill in the same way as other premises.

Smoking

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment her Department has made of the reduction in smoking prevalence rates that would be achieved by implementing option four in the regulatory impact assessment for the Health Improvement and Protection Bill.

Caroline Flint: A regulatory impact assessment (RIA) has been published alongside the Health Bill. The RIA contains estimates of costs and benefits of legislation to end smoking in enclosed public places and workplaces, including potential impact on smoking prevalence rates. A copy is available in the Library.

Smoking

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether smoking on stage in theatres as part of the presentation will be permitted under the Government's proposed ban on smoking in public places.

Caroline Flint: As part of the public consultation on the smoke-free parts of the Health Bill, we received representations from the theatre industry to exempt theatrical performances. We are considering the points made and will take them into account in drafting regulations.

Smoking

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will publish her response to the Health Select Committee's report advocating a wider ban on smoking than that contained in the Health Bill prior to that Bill's report stage; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: The Government will publish their response to the Health Select Committee's report in due course.

Smoking

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps she is taking to improve access to smoking cessation services for hard-to-reach groups;
	(2)  if she will take steps to increase referral from the NHS and partner agencies to smoking cessation services;
	(3)  if she will expand the current capacity of NHS smoking cessation services.

Caroline Flint: The Department funded an evaluation of the national health service stop smoking services in England. The evaluation included an analysis of how well the services were doing in enabling access to the services of smokers from hard-to-reach groups. Results from the evaluation show that the NHS stop smoking services in England are successfully reaching smokers living in the most disadvantaged areas. The evaluation was published in a special supplement of the journal, Addiction in April 2005. A copy is available in the Library.
	The Department has also asked the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to look at two areas of smoking cessation: the first is for brief interventions and referral, the second is for optimal provision of services for smokers. The scopes for these two pieces of work are available on NICE'S website. In both cases the scopes place particular emphasis on looking at groups where smoking rates are high including manual working groups, pregnant women, low income/lone parents and homeless people.
	The Department ran a major marketing campaign during 2005 to raise awareness of local NHS stop smoking services. This campaign included television, press, radio and ambient advertising. As with all tobacco education campaigns, the campaign had a strong focus on the routine and manual audience. In February 2006, a new major campaign, promoting local NHS stop smoking services will be launched. This will again focus on the routine and manual group audience.
	To build on the continued good progress of the NHS stop smoking services in reaching and exceeding previous targets for helping smokers to quit, the Department set from April 2003 a more demanding national target of helping 800,000 smokers to quit by March 2006. To help meet this increased target, the services have expanded substantially, supported by extra investment of 138 million over the three years. The table shows the substantial and continued increase in capacity in NHS stop smoking services.
	
		NHS stop smoking service results 1999June 2005.
		
			  People setting a quit date through NHS stop smoking services Number who remained quit at the four week follow up with NHS stop smoking service 
		
		
			 19992000 14,598 5,761 
			 20002001 132,544 64,554 
			 20012002 227,335 119,834 
			 20022003 234,858 124,082 
			 20032004 361,224 204,876 
			 20042005 529,567 298,124 
			 l AprilJune 2005 140,177 73,396 
			 Total 1999June 2005 1,640,303 890,627 
		
	
	Source:
	Health and Social Care Information Centre.

Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health
	(1)  what assessment she has made of the reasons for Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust's budget deficit;
	(2)  when the turnround team sent into Southport and Ormskirk Hospital is expected to report its findings; and whether the findings will be made public.

Liam Byrne: Turnaround teams, comprising financial and management specialists, are to be sent into a small number of national health service organisations to help them provide more cost-effective services for patients.
	An initial piece of work, the baseline assessment, is under way to identify the NHS organisations that will most benefit from the support of the turnaround teams. Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust is one of the organisations involved in the baseline assessment and was chosen because of the financial challenges it faces.
	The baseline assessment is planned to be concluded before Christmas. No decision has been made as to whether the findings will be made public.
	The turnaround teams will support the chief executives of each of the organisations identified as needing their support. The type and length of engagement will be tailored to the needs of specific organisations but the programme is expected to be of an 18-month duration.

Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the future capital investment programme is for Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust.

Liam Byrne: The information requested can be obtained from the Southport and Ormskirk hospital national health service trust and the Cheshire and Merseyside strategic health authority.

Strategic Health Authorities

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the performance management abilities of strategic health authorities in managing NHS trusts and primary care trusts which are failing in their duties to break even year-on-year.

Liam Byrne: It is the responsibility of strategic health authorities (SHAs) to deliver both overall financial balance for their local health communities and to ensure each and every body achieves financial balance. The Department works with SHAs to support them in this task.
	To strengthen the ability of SHAs to deal with organisations with financial challenges we recently announced the creation of turnaround teams. These teams will support the national health service in identifying opportunities to deliver services with greater cost-effectiveness and to make financial savings. They will help the local NHS ensure that it delivers both its key targets and financial balance.
	We have re-emphasised to all SHAs the importance of sound financial management, and the key role that system reform will play to achieve this goal, and we have also increased the level of monitoring and analysis, and have developed a more active way of challenging SHAs about the financial performance of their health economy.

Therapy Providers

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with which organisations she has held discussions on professional accreditation of therapy providers; and if she will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: Departmental officials have held discussions with over 30 organisations in the fields of psychotherapy and counselling over the last five years with a view to establishing agreed roles and the competences and training necessary for their safe practice. These will form the basis of regulation which would include accreditation of training and registration of practitioners who are fit to practise.

Tobacco Control Alliance

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much her Department has spent supporting local tobacco control alliances since 1997;
	(2)  how much public funding has been provided to the Kent Alliance on Smoking and Health since 1997; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: The NHS Cancer Plan published in September 2000, announced the establishment of local tobacco control alliances, with funding of up to 1 million a year.
	After the initial three years, decision making on local tobacco control was devolved to the nine Government office regions (GOR). The tobacco control budget was increased to 2 million a year for the three years 2003 to 2006, to provide funding for regional tobacco control work together with funding of local tobacco control alliances.
	According to the GOR for the South East, the Kent Alliance on Smoking and Health has received funding of 43,040 in 200304, 30,706 in 200405 and 30,706 in 200506.

Tuberculosis

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many reported cases of tuberculosis there were in Gloucestershire in each of the last 10 years.

Caroline Flint: The number of tuberculosis notifications for Gloucestershire for the years 1995 to 2004 is shown in the following table. These are the latest figures available.
	
		Tuberculosis notifications, Gloucestershire, 1995 to 2004
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1995 37 
			 1996 38 
			 1997 26 
			 1998 30 
			 1999 27 
			 2000 35 
			 2001 22 
			 2002 21 
			 2003 22 
			 2004 31 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Data prepared by: Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections.
	2. Data as at 10 January 2006.
	Source:
	Statutory Notifications of Infectious Diseases (NOIDs)

Waiting Times

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to paragraph 67 of the document Commissioning an 18 week patient pathway: Proposed principles and definitions: A discussion document, what steps she is taking to ensure that the decision that subsequent treatment courses will not fall within the initial 18 week waiting target does not create an incentive for NHS trusts to make patients wait longer for subsequent treatment; and if she will publish information on these waiting times.

Liam Byrne: The Department is currently collating responses to the listening exercise on the proposed principles and definitions for 18 weeks, which closed on 8 December 2005. The conclusions drawn from the listening exercise will help inform the final principles and definitions, and will be published in 2006. As the principles and definitions are still under constant review until the time that they are published, we cannot presently give any further information about their content.
	While 18 weeks will be the maximum, most patient journeys will be much shorter than this. In particular 18 weeks does not replace other waiting times targets or standards where these are tighter than 18 weeks, for example, rapid access chest pain clinics. There will be other mechanisms to reduce the patient pathway in areas not included in 18 weeks, as outlined in the NHS improvement plan, and the 18 weeks maximum wait may be extended to other areas in the future.

Waiting Times

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) maximum and (b) average waiting times for outpatient appointments subsequent to an initial appointment were for each strategic health authority in England in each quarter of the last eight years.

Liam Byrne: Waiting times for outpatient appointments subsequent to initial appointments are not collected centrally.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Avon Fire Authority

Stephen Williams: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what discussions his Department has had with (a) the Avon fire authority, (b) the chief fire officer of Avon and (c) fire servicemen and women working in the Avon fire authority about proposals to move fire appliances from Temple Back station, Bristol to Patchway, Bristol as part of the integrated risk management plan.

Jim Fitzpatrick: No representations have been made. It is not the role of Ministers to agree the operational proposals in an authority's plan; that is for elected members of the authority concerned. They are best placed to act on the professional advice of principal officers and to balance the competing local demands on available resources for the benefits of the communities they serve. Furthermore, Avon fire authority's proposals will, of course, be subject to consultation with the local community, as required under the integrated risk management plan (IRMP).

Housing

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many local authorities have indicated that they do not wish to transfer their council housing.

Yvette Cooper: Of the 354 local housing authorities, 185 have selected large scale voluntary transfer. The remainder have opted not to transfer but rather have decided to: set up an Arms Length Management Organisation (59), implement a mixed solution of more than one option (nine), or opt for local authority retention (98). Three local authorities have still to finalise their option.

Housing

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the number of local authorities which will be able to meet the local demand for affordable rented housing by 2007.

Yvette Cooper: The Government are investing increased resources made available through the Spending Review 2004 to provide 75,000 social rented homes by the year 200708. With the advice of the Regional Housing Boards, set out in their regional housing strategies, resources are being targeted at those areas in greatest need.

Housing

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what impact he expects the (a) Thames Gateway, (b) Olympic facilities and (c) Kings Cross development to have on building cost inflation in London; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the allowances for London local authority housing revenue accounts.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not forecast building cost inflation. The Office of Government Commerce is currently assessing public sector construction procurement demand, capacity, supply and performance. This will include a particular project to examine the construction industry's capacity to deliver planned national capital construction programmes, including the provision of Olympics infrastructure, in the period 200515.
	The Major Repairs Allowance (MRA) in the Housing Revenue Account is designed to meet the average annual costs of major repairs. It is up-rated each year in line with general inflation. A local authority can react to high building costs by putting some or all of its MRA into a Major Repairs Reserve.

Housing

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister from which budget the additional resources made available to arm's length management organisations (ALMOs) to improve council homes comes; what level of funding is available from applications from new ALMOs; and what the total cost was in each year since 1997.

Yvette Cooper: The arm's length management organisation (ALMO) programme has its own separate budget created from increased resources from Treasury. A total of 3.7 billion has been allocated to the ALMO programme under the two most recent spending reviews for the five years up to 200708. Funding beyond 200708 will be considered in the context of the next spending review, CSR 07. The ALMO programme has only been running since 2002. Total expenditure was 56 million in 200203, 321 million in 200304, 577 million in 200405 and is projected to be 846 million in 200506.

Fire Services

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what financial help will be offered to Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Fire Authority in relation to the expansion of Milton Keynes.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 200607 and 200708 that was announced on the 5 December 2005 by my hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government included the use of population projections as the dominant data drivers of population in the settlements.

Government Bills

David Amess: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the Government Bills sponsored by his Department that are expected to be introduced during the current session; what the proposed date of presentation is of each; and into which House each will be introduced.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Council Tax (New Valuation Lists for England) Bill, (Bill 57 2005/06) was introduced into the House of Commons on 13 October 2005. There are no plans for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to introduce further Bills this session.

Government Papers

David Amess: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many copies of Cm 6526 were produced; how many copies were supplied free by his Department; and to whom such copies were supplied.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Annual Report, Cm 6526, was published on 20 June 2005 and is freely available on the ODPM's website.
	The commercial decision as to the number of copies printed was made by The Stationery Office Ltd, who advise that 1,000 copies of the report were printed. Of these, approximately 500 copies were provided free of charge to the Libraries of the House, the Vote Office, the ODPM Select Committee, Ministers and officials in the ODPM, and to other Government Departments.

Homelessness

Nick Harvey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps his Department is taking to address rural homelessness.

Yvette Cooper: Earlier this year, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister published our future strategy on homelessness Sustainable Communities: settled homes; changing lives. The strategy contains our commitment to continue working to ensure that the needs of rural communities are met.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will continue to support all local authorities with additional resources to help them implement requirements of the Homelessness Act and tackle and prevent homelessness in their area. Rural authorities have received around 7 million in each year since 200304 and as confirmed last month over 7.5 million has been allocated to rural authorities for 200607 and 200708. In addition, the Homelessness and Housing Support Directorate in ODPM has appointed a specialist adviser from a local authority who is tasked specifically with promoting good practice in tackling homelessness in rural areas.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will continue to promote approaches that work in a rural context, where access to affordable housing can be more limited, where remoteness can act as a barrier to accessing relevant services and where there may be less developed partnerships.
	Through regional workshops and training the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will help the preparation of sub-regional homelessness strategies that link into the Regional Housing and county Supporting People strategies, and draw on the strengths of the Local Strategic Partnerships, to tackle the causes of homelessness in rural areas.
	The number of households accepted as owed a main homelessness duty in rural authorities during 200405 fell by 6 per cent. compared with 200304.

Housing Performance Indicators

Anne Main: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 9 January 2006, Official Report, columns 26061W, if he will provide the figures for best value performance indicator 64 for (a) 200203 and (b) 200304 expressed as a percentage of the number of dwellings returned to occupation or demolished in those years.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Kent County Council

Stephen Byers: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will raise with Kent county council its requirement that (a) small businesses submit full accounts rather than abbreviated ones and (b) all potential suppliers of goods and services have public liability insurance of at least 5 million.

Jim Fitzpatrick: I have raised these issues with Kent county council and am awaiting a response. I will write to my right hon. Friend once the relevant information is received, and a copy will be published in the Official Report.

Kent County Council

Stephen Byers: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will take steps to ensure that the standard terms of contract adopted by Kent county council do not (a) discriminate against and (b) place an undue burden of regulation on small businesses.

Phil Woolas: I have raised these issues with Kent county council and am awaiting a response. I will write to my right hon. Friend once the relevant information is received, and a copy will be published in the Official Report.

Land Development

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps the Government is taking to tackle speculative and misleading sales and marketing of land without planning permission as land with development opportunities; and what advice the Government has given to trading standards officials on this issue.

Gerry Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
	The Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 makes it a criminal offence to make false or misleading statements about specified aspects of land (which includes buildings) offered for sale by those in the estate agency or property development business. The categories of information which fall into those controls include the existence or nature of any planning permission or proposals for development, construction or change of use. There is no general requirement to disclose information, but where information is given it must be accurate and must not be misleading.
	Trading Standards Officers can, where they have reasonable cause to suspect that an offence has been committed, require the production of books, documents or hard copy of information held on computers and can take copies of them. Where they have reasonable grounds to believe that an offence has been committed they can seize and retain such material. On summary conviction, the penalty under the Act is a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum (currently 5,000). For conviction on indictment, e.g. before a Crown court, this is an unlimited fine. These provisions follow the standard pattern for legislation of this kind.

Local Authority Accrued Liabilities

Andrew Pelling: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what percentage of each local authority's assets were accrued liabilities according to the most recent actuarial valuation.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The 89 funds that comprise the local government pension scheme are valued by actuaries every three years, most recently in 2004. The results for English and Welsh local authorities participating in the scheme are given at:
	www.xoq83.dial.pipex.com/actvale.pdf and www.xoq83.dial.pipex.com/valwal.pdf respectively.

Local Authority Mergers

Peter Bone: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if the Government will assess the merits of mergers of local authorities across county boundaries.

Phil Woolas: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has launched a public debate about the governance arrangements for local areas and are interested to hear views on the merits of change and how it might be made. We plan to publish a White Paper on the future of local government in the middle of next year.

Local Government Finance

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the ranking was for each local authority which undertook a (a) full or (b) partial transfer under (i) the 1998 Index of Local Deprivation, (ii) the Indices of Deprivation 2000 and (iii) the Indices of Deprivation 2004 for each year in which transfers took place since 1997.

Yvette Cooper: A table presenting the rank for each local authority which undertook (a) a full or (b) partial transfer under (i) the 1998 Index of Local Deprivation, (ii) the Indices of Deprivation 2000 and (iii) the Indices of Deprivation 2004 has been made available in the Library of the House.
	Please note that these Indices are not strictly comparable as they are made up of different indicators and domains, and the methodology was fundamentally changed between the 1998 and 2000 Indices.

Local Government Finance

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the annual per capita allocation of revenue support grant was in Tamworth borough council in each of thelast eight years; what the annual percentage increasewas; and what the average per capita allocation was for English local authorities in each of the last eight years.

Phil Woolas: The following table shows formula grant per head for Tamworth, and all English local authorities for 199899 to 200506. Formula grant comprises revenue support grant, redistributed business rates and principal formula police grant.
	It should be noted that Tamworth only provides some services within their area; for example education, social services, highway maintenance, police and fire services are provided by other authorities. The all English local authorities column covers all services.
	
		
			  Tamworth All English local authorities 
		
		
			 199899 59.87 721.89 
			 19992000 60.37 753.00 
			 200001 61.98 778.19 
			 200102 64.85 804.47 
			 200203 66.77 806.51 
			 200304 72.54 892.49 
			 200405 70.26 930.64 
			 200506 74.52 983.15 
		
	
	The following table shows the percentage increase in formula grant per head year-on-year on a like-for-like basis for Tamworth, and all English local authorities for 199899 to 200506.
	Please note that the figures provided in the first table cannot be compared directly as there have been a number of changes in the funding and functions covered by formula grant over this period.
	
		Percentage
		
			  Tamworth All English local authorities 
		
		
			 199899 -6.1 1.4 
			 19992000 0.8 4.3 
			 200001 2.7 3.3 
			 200102 3.8 3.8 
			 200203 4.4 4.5 
			 200304 11.2 7.7 
			 200405 5.1 4.7 
			 200506 5.7 4.9 
		
	
	Please note that all of these figures are based on the respective year's settlement. In some years these figures have subsequently been subject to an amending report.

Local Government Finance

David Anderson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will, as part of the review of local government finance, take account of the additional spending needs of authorities with a disproportionately high number of un-adopted, privately owned, roads, walls and bridges in need of repair.

Phil Woolas: Routine road maintenance is financed partly by the local government finance settlement and partly by council tax. The maintenance of un-adopted, privately owned, roads, walls and bridges is not a matter for the local highway authority instead this is the responsibility of the owners.

Local Government Finance

Bob Spink: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when the Lyons Inquiry into council tax is expected to finish taking evidence.

Phil Woolas: On 20 September, the Government extended Sir Michael Lyons' independent inquiry into local government funding so that he can consider issues relating to the wider functions of local government and its future role. It is for Sir Michael to decide when the Inquiry will stop taking evidence, before producing his final report at the end of 2006.
	Meanwhile, Sir Michael published an interim report and consultation paper on 15 December 2005. That report welcomed views on the proposals and issues outlined in it by 13 March 2006.

London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

Greg Hands: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much public money has been provided to the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in (a) revenue and (b) capital grants in each year since 199697.

Phil Woolas: The amount of central government funding provided to the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in each year since 199697 is tabled as follows.
	
		
			  000 
		
		
			 199697 135,002 
			 199798 136,577 
			 199899 142,640 
			 19992000 152,034 
			 200001 165,320 
			 200102 180,845 
			 200203 190,898 
			 200304 213,397 
			 200405 223,648 
		
	
	The data are taken from Revenue Summary (RS) returns for 199697 to 200405.
	Central government funding is defined here as the sum of Specific grants inside Aggregate External Finance (AEF) and Formula grant (Revenue Support Grant, Redistributed business rates and Police Grant).
	Specific grants inside Aggregate External Finance are those revenue grants paid for councils' core services (such as waste collection), excluding funding for local authorities' housing management.
	Comparisons across years may not be valid due to changing local authority responsibilities.
	The information excludes those grant programmes, such as European funding, where authorities are simply one of the recipients of funding paid towards an area.
	The information requested on capital grants is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Neighbourhood Wardens (Haringey)

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will increase funding for neighbourhood wardens in the London borough of Haringey; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: There are no plans to increase funding for neighbourhood wardens schemes in Haringey.

North-East Lincolnshire Council

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many findings of maladministration there have been against North East Lincolnshire council since 2003; and if he will provide a summary for each case.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Since 2003, the local government ombudsman has issued two formal public reports setting out findings of maladministration. The local government ombudsman's summaries are set out as follows:
	1. North East Lincolnshire council (03/C604) social services for children (report issued 11 March 2004).
	'John Swift' (not his real name for legal reasons) is a young person whose care is the responsibility of the council. He complains about the standard of care he received in a foster placement and that the council failed to consider his complaints properly.
	The ombudsman found that there was inadequate preparation before and during the early part of the John's placement with his foster parents. She was also critical of the council's failure to have guidance for foster carers about whether and when it might be appropriate to ask fostered young people to be out of the house when the foster carer was not present.
	The Ombudsman recommended that the council should:
	Pay John 100 in compensation;
	Complete its current review of the issue of requiring young people in foster care to vacate the foster home in certain circumstances and issue guidance to foster parents on the subject.
	The council has agreed, and the ombudsman considers this will remedy the injustice caused by the maladministration identified.
	2. North East Lincolnshire council (03/C/4267 and 7084) public rights of way (report issued 15 December 2005).
	Mr Jennings' and 'Mr Crosby' (not their real names) complained about the obstruction of a footpath near their homes. The footpath had been inaccessible for its whole length for a number of years despite complaints and representations from a number of people and the Ramblers Association. The ombudsman had been critical of Humberside county council, by public report, for its failure to take action to reopen this footpath.
	This problem was one inherited by the council from its predecessor, Humberside county council. The council was aware of this problem at the time, and indeed considered the matter at committee level in October 1996. Nothing more was done though until 2005 when another committee took action which is likely to re-establish this footpath.
	The ombudsman acknowledged the financial difficulties which had confronted the council and made prioritising work and expenditure difficult, but she had to remind the council that Parliament had placed upon the council a statutory duty to assert and protect the rights of the public to use and enjoy public footpaths. The failure here to respond to this statutory duty was, in the ombudsman's view, maladministration. The ombudsman felt this was aggravated by the failures of both the council and its predecessor to comply with recommendations contained in the previous report issued about this matter.
	Although the ombudsman commended the council for the action it is taking now, she was critical of the time taken to reach this point. The ombudsman felt that the council's failure to respond to the previous report, and the failure over many years to take any effective action, reflected very poorly on the council.
	The council has now instigated action which should resolve this matter and re-establish the footpath. However the ombudsman felt that the complainants had been put to great trouble in being forced to pursue their complaints as they did and, commending their patience, felt that the council should pay each of them 500 to compensate them for their time and trouble.

Planning Applications

Bob Spink: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many planning applications were appealed in respect of proposals to replace houses and bungalows with flats in each of the last five years.

Yvette Cooper: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Planning Applications

Lynne Jones: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what measures are in place to ensure that planning applications that are in the eight-week target category, but which are not processed by a local planning authority within eight weeks, are not then given a lower priority than other applications where the target is achievable.

Yvette Cooper: The Government has set a target for all local authorities to determine 65 per cent. of 'minor' applications, and 80 per cent. of 'other' applications, within eight weeks, by 31 March 2007. These figures are set in recognition that not all such applications may be capable of being decided within the eight-week period. However, the Government also provides incentives, through Planning Delivery Grant, for authorities to decide a higher proportion within time scales. As announced in December some of the Planning Delivery Grant would be used to reward authorities for effective management of their application processes, including ensuring that they do not have unacceptable backlogs.

Planning Applications

Gregory Barker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether his Department consults the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs before it publishes new (a) planning regulations and (b) housing plans.

Yvette Cooper: Yes. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister consults all other interested Government Departments including the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs before publishing or consulting on new planning regulations, or new housing planning policy statements.

Primary Care Trusts

Howard Stoate: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what discussions Ministers and officials in his Department had with their counterparts in the Department of Health on the reorganisation of primary care trusts in Kent and Medway prior to the publication on 14 December 2005 by Kent and Medway strategic health authority of the consultation on new strategic health authority and primary care trust arrangements in Kent and Medway.

Phil Woolas: Ministers and officials in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister have had a number of discussions with their Department of Health counterparts about the potential interaction with local government of the proposals for reorganising Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) across England, including Kent and Medway.

Private Members' Bills

David Amess: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether it is his policy to write to hon. Members presenting a Private Members' Bill on a subject within his Department's responsibility to express his support, opposition or neutrality; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's response to Private Members' Bills is normally set out by Ministers during the Second Reading debate.

Private Members' Bills

David Amess: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list those Private Members' Bills introduced during the current session where policy responsibility rests with his Department.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has policy interests in a number of Private Members' Bills introduced by hon. Members during the current session.

Private Members' Bills

David Amess: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  if he will list those Private Members' handout Bills prepared by his Department that are expected to be introduced during the current session; what the proposed date of presentation is of each; and into which House each will be introduced;
	(2)  if he will list the Private Members' handout Bills put forward by his Department in each session since 1997; and which such Bills received Royal Assent.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was formed on 29 May 2002. Since that time two Private Members' handout Bills where policy responsibility rests with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister have been introduced. None are planned for the current session.
	High Hedges (No.2) Bill was introduced on 11 December 2002.
	Sustainable and Secure Buildings Bill was introduced on 7 January 2004, it received Royal Assent on 16 September 2004.

Public Relations Companies

Michael Weir: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the public relations companies that have had contracts with (a) his Department and previous Departments with his Department's responsibilities, (b) each (i) non-departmental public body and (ii) executive agency for which his Department is responsible and (c) independent statutory bodies, organisations and bodies financially sponsored by his Department since May 1997.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was formed in May 2002. This information is not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Supporting People Services

Paul Burstow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what account his Department takes of the single assessment process in the guidance for the Supporting People assessment; and how the resulting support plan operates in relation to the single assessment care plan.

Phil Woolas: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member on 14 December 2005, Official Report, columns 19701W. As that explained, there is currently no standard approach to Supporting People assessments, but our Supporting People strategy development work commits us to working towards one and to integrating that with those for care and other relevant services. As such, arrangements, and the links between support plans and care plans, will currently vary between local authorities and between providers.

Supporting People Services

Paul Burstow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister to what assessment a person applying for access to an Extra Care scheme under Supporting People is subject.

Phil Woolas: There is no standardised approach to assessments for Supporting People services, and arrangements will vary between authorities and between providers. It is, however, usual for an assessment to be made of an individual's personal circumstances in order to obtain housing-related support. This could take account of things like physical and mental health, social, family, domestic and financial circumstances. The basic aim will be to determine eligibility, so a decision can be made on who is entitled to a service funded through Supporting People and in accordance with grant conditions applying to the programme; and why, and what, if any, charges for the service should be made.
	Assessments governing access to Extra Care schemes are not governed or determined by the Supporting People programme.

Standards Board for England

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans the Government has to (a) move the location of and (b) abolish the Standards Board for England.

Phil Woolas: As is clear from the Government's Discussion Paper, 'Standards of Conduct in English Local Government: The Future', published on 15 December 2005, we have no plans to abolish the board. We consider that the new style strategic board as proposed in the paper, if Parliament legislates to establish it, should be re-located out of London. In advance of this, I have given approval for the board to re-locate a small number of posts to Manchester in 2006, provided this can be achieved without the need for any extra grant funding from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.